Walton Goggins and 'Fallout' stars on season 2: Really excited to be back

New Delhi, Dec 16 (PTI) Walton Goggins, Ella Purnell and Aaron Moten, the cast of Prime Video’s post-apocalyptic drama "Fallout", are excited about the show's second season, which they say was a joyful cinematic experience despite a complex production. Based on the popular video game franchise of the same name, “Fallout” is set in a futuristic world, ravaged by nuclear wars, where survivors navigate violence, power struggles and ethical dilemmas.

The second season, which premieres on Prime Video on Wednesday, picks up in the aftermath of the epic finale of the first season and take audiences along for a journey through the wasteland of the Mojave Desert in California to the post-apocalyptic city of New Vegas.

The cast said the creative energy on set remained as charged as ever in the second season.

"We're excited. We’re all really excited to be coming back and feeling very lucky to be picked up and doing it again,” Purnell, who plays Lucy, a sheltered but resilient young woman forced to confront the harsh realities of the outside world, told PTI.

According to Goggins, who is returning to a popular drama after a much-admired stint in "The White Lotus 3", the enthusiasm is not just limited to the cast, but extends to the entire crew. On "Fallout", Goggins stars as the Ghoul, a complex, centuries-old survivor "700 people that work on this show are fans of this show...Hopefully the fans will consume this right with passion, and excitement. That's how we felt when we were reading these scripts. Every single time we read them, we would call or text each other or see each other on set and go like 'Can you believe that this is happening?'... It is a cinematic extravaganza. It is a global story that doesn't belong to any one of us," Goggins told PTI.

The actor said it was a complex production, which included shooting episodes out of sequence across multiple storylines.

"It's such a behemoth. It's a very big thing to move this ball forward every single day. But we've never really talked about the fact that we shoot this show out of order. We have eight episodes. They're not all written when we start the show, but they anticipate things that might come later.

"On any given day, we could be filming three or four or five episodes because we're crossing through the same location, and with multiple directors and multiple storylines, some of which we don't truly understand why or how we got here. But we just all rely on each other to realise the fact that this will make sense. We know exactly what we're doing, even if at times we don't, and that's exciting, that's art on a very high level." Moten, who essays the role of Maximus, a young soldier navigating loyalty, ambition and survival within a rigid power structure, credited the crew and detailed sets for keeping the experience fresh.

"It's such a joy to work on this series, it's never boring for us. That's mostly due to the crew, the incredible artisans working on this, the people that even when I have days where I might feel exhausted because we've been running so hard, I'll show up to a set and we have some amazing sets in the show.

"There's this excitement I always have for coming to a show like this where I feel motivated to continually give it everything I have because everyone else around me is doing the same." The show, which has legions of fans, has already been renewed for season three and the cast is thrilled about it, especially Goggins.

"We're going to tell it again. We know that we have a season three coming. So just dig in, get really comfortable and enjoy these holidays with the 'Fallout' family," he said.

Working on the series has also prompted them to re-examine ideas of morality, empathy and right action in a world where even basic humanity is under threat.

Purnell believes morality is rarely about clear-cut right and wrong.

"The obvious answer is doing the right thing, but what does that really mean? Is the right thing what sits well with you? or, is it what feels good for your soul and nourishing? Is it the most loving thing to do? Because sometimes the most loving thing to do and the right thing to do are not the same thing," she said.

According to the actor, her character's journey reinforced the importance of holding on to principles, even when abandoning them may seem easier.

"I think everyone has to find their own personal definition of that. Something that I've taken from Lucy is perseverance in maintaining principles, even when it might be easier sometimes to throw those principles out the window. I think that that is my personal definition of morals in this moment," Purnell said.

For Goggins morality is more fluid than fixed.

"I don't think morality is stagnant. Morality isn’t black or white, it’s grey. And this show has made me question that in my own life," the "White Lotus" actor said.

"And what I've come away with is that if the one pathway to my morality is empathy and it is through empathy that your morality may shift a little to the left or a little to the right. But by understanding someone else's pain, you can better understand your own. And grace is a product of it," he added.

Moten said the series challenged him to think about the difference between being “right” and being “effective”.

“Sometimes making the right choice is not necessarily the most moral choice at the moment. And the same thing is with the most effective choice," he said.

"I think about that as an artist sometimes... I used to spend a lot of time trying to make the right choice with work.... what is actually going to get you outside of yourself to make an effect on the world around you," he added.

Fallout is produced by Kilter Films, with executive producers Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy and Athena Wickham. Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner serve as executive producers, creators, and showrunners.

Todd Howard, Bethesda Game Studios, executive produces along with James Altman for Bethesda Softworks. Margot Lulick also executive produces. Amazon MGM Studios and Kilter Films produce in association with Bethesda Game Studios and Bethesda Softworks. PTI RB BK BK BK