Summary
- Walton Goggins describes his Fallout character, The Ghoul, as ruthless and pragmatic, with a wicked sense of humor.
- The Ghoul is a bounty hunter who has survived the nuclear war and has been walking the Wasteland for 200 years.
- Goggins drew inspiration from Westerns, such as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood films, rather than the Fallout video game, to bring authenticity to his portrayal of The Ghoul.
Fallout star Walton Goggins has offered some insight into his character The Ghoul, calling him “as ruthless as they come.” The first trailer for Amazon’s upcoming adaptation of Fallout was released over the weekend and offered our first glimpse at the series, with Goggins’ character set to play a major role. However, unlike the various ghouls seen in the video game, Goggins’ character is something completely new.
“He’s not a ghoul from the game. He’s kind of a new entity. He’s been around for 200 years walking the Wasteland. He survived the nuclear war. He is a bounty hunter. He is as ruthless as they come. Pragmatic. He’s a rascal. He’s got a wicked sense of humor.”
While details surrounding Goggins’ had been somewhat under wraps, it has now been revealed that Goggins’ Ghoul was once named Cooper Howard, and that he was once the lead actor in a Western series titled The Man from Deadhorse. He also had a wife and daughter before the Great War, with a flashback of The Ghoul’s former family life glimpsed in the recent footage.
The actor continued (via Comicbook.com), saying that The Ghoul has seen “the worst of human nature,” and that such sights changed Cooper Howard forever.
“He’s cynical, but he wasn’t always that way. And he has a name – his name is Cooper Howard. I can’t go into really anything more than that, but you’ll see the difference between the two.”
Walton Goggins Turned to Westerns, Rather Than the Fallout Video Game, for Inspiration
Rather than look to the Fallout source material for inspiration (as he did not want to be “impacted” by any already existing Ghouls), Goggins instead turned to Westerns, taking inspiration from some of the most iconic gunfighters as played by John Wayne in the likes of Stagecoach, Rio Bravo and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name from A Fistful of Dollars and The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.
“I didn’t want to do an interpretation of a ghoul in a game. I think that my job and the way that I could help my writers and my director is by keeping my distance from it and keeping them honest. I didn’t have that as an influence, and therefore, I was uninfluenced.”
Finally, Goggins revealed why The Ghoul is the perfect character for the Justified star to play, as you never really know if he’s a friend or an enemy…
“He’s a lot of fun. I’d say he could be your best friend and your worst f—ing enemy, but he doesn’t have friends, so he’ll only be your enemy.”
Based on one of the greatest video game series of all time, Fallout is the story of haves and have-nots in a world in which there’s almost nothing left to have. 200 years after the apocalypse, the gentle denizens of luxury fallout shelters are forced to return to the irradiated hellscape their ancestors left behind — and are shocked to discover an incredibly complex, gleefully weird and highly violent universe waiting for them.
From executive producers Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, the creators of Westworld, and starring Ella Purnell, Walton Goggins, Aaron Moten and more, Fallout is due to debut on 12 April on Prime Video. Check out the trailer below:
