Fallout: Season One 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

Fallout: Season One 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

"The end of the world is a product."

Reviewed by Randy Miller III July 9, 2025

It’s hard to believe that Bethesda’s popular Fallout franchise finally includes a TV show; this post-apocalyptic video game series debuted all the way back in 1997, and one of the platforms it ran on was none other than MS-DOS. In a new behind-the-scenes featurette on the Blu-ray and 4K releases of this first season, Bethesda producer Todd Howard mentions turning down multiple movie and TV offers during the last several decades, largely because they just didn’t feel right. Everything changed during a phone conversation with celebrated writer Jonathan Nolan (Person of Interest, Westworld), a lifelong fan of the franchise who would eventually be the future show’s executive producer and direct its first three episodes. Along with showrunners Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner, whose separate credits in fantasy/sci-fi and comedy proved to be a great match for the franchise’s tone, Fallout’s cast and crew set out to craft an original story and new characters to fit comfortably into the game’s established world.

They mostly succeed during this eight-episode first season, a solid run that uses varying run times of approximately 45-60 minutes to introduce multiple characters, arcs, and locations during several different time periods. It all begins with “The End”, which looks like it starts out in the 1950s but it’s actually 2077 with a distinctly retro-future aesthetic. This first episode’s unforgettable opening sequence depicts a turning point in human history as the threat of impending nuclear war looms over an otherwise celebratory kid’s birthday party in an affluent suburb of Los Angeles. Our party host is fading Western TV actor Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins), who does his best to maintain composure during the festivities but, sure enough, ends up witnessing a nuclear blast several miles away as he stands next to his daughter. Then another blast. Then another. Then another, and most of the population is wiped out in seconds.

It's an arresting start and inarguably the episode’s best moment, but don’t take that as a complaint: Fallout still hits plenty of high notes after it smash-cuts more than 200 years into the future within post-apocalyptic Los Angeles and the surrounding areas, which are now home to several generations of people residing in starkly different environments. Our first main character is Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell), who has a mostly comfortable and secure life underground in “Vault 33”, one of many massive bunkers first created in the pre-war 21st century by a corporation known as Vault-Tec. After her arranged marriage to adjacent Vault 32 dweller Monty (Cameron Cowperthwaite) to broaden the gene pool, Lucy’s people are ambushed and her father, Vault 33 overseer Hank (Kyle MacLachlan), is abducted by invaders led by the infamous “Moldaver” (Sarita Choudhury). Determined to get her dad back, the naïve but headstrong Lucy decides to illegally leave Vault life and head somewhere she’s never been: outside, which in this case is a desolate expanse of sandy dunes, urban decay, and roaming threats known as “The Wasteland”.

Our second story features similarly sheltered Maximus (Aaron Moten), the second least masculine member of the “Brotherhood of Steel”, a cult-like military group that pairs its lower-level soldiers (known as “squires”) with heavily armored Knights for reconnaissance missions. Maximus -- who’s a lot less courageous than his name suggests -- is selected to venture forth with foul-mouthed Knight Titus (Michael Rapaport) but their outing doesn’t go as planned, resulting in a sudden change of ranking and an extended case of stolen identity.

Then there’s “The Ghoul” (Walton Goggins), who looks an awful lot like actor Cooper Howard mixed with maskless Deadpool and a dash of Fire Marshal Bill. A noseless, leather-skinned cowboy figure with near-limitless healing abilities caused by radiation exposure and prolonged by his dwindling supply of drug vials, The Ghoul is resurrected by bounty hunters and enlisted to capture the very same unnamed person that Maximus and Knight Titus are (were?) pursuing. Keeping in character, though, The Ghoul -- who, along with a few others of his kind, serves as the show’s only real supernatural element -- swiftly kills the bounty hunters and decides to travel alone instead.

During these initial eight episodes (2-3 per disc), Fallout is mostly concerned with inevitable intersections between these main characters; that means each other, of course, as well as several others including Dr. Siggi Wilzig (Michael Emerson), Lucy’s Vault-dwelling younger brother Norm (Moisés Arias), an entirely new Vault community led by cycloptic overseer Benjamin (Chris Parnell), another squire named Thaddeus (Johnny Pemberton), and an assortment of colorful Wasteland stragglers including a modified Helper Bot known as "Snip Snip" (Matt Berry), the self-proclaimed President Sorrel Booker (Glenn Fleshler), a brash old shopkeeper (Dale Dickey), two burnout organ harvesters (Matty Cardarople and Elvis Valentino Lopez), an old-time radio broadcaster (Fred Armisen), a lonesome farmer (Michael Abbott Jr.), and an eccentric wandering merchant (Jon Daly) nicknamed “The Snake Oil Salesman” for good reason.

Along the way, Fallout intermittently jumps back to 2077 and key events leading up to “The Great War”, allowing us occasional breaks from all the post-apocalyptic bloodshed while giving Walton Goggins a chance to dial it back a few notches with much less makeup. As such, these scenes are largely from the perspective of Cooper Howard, whose wife Barb (Frances Turner) works for Vault-Tec in an unknown capacity. Not surprisingly, several of Cooper’s Hollywood pals including Charles Whiteknife (Dallas Goldtooth) seem gravely concerned with the company’s overreach, and they even go to secret meetings that draw obvious parallels to rampant McCarthyism during the 1950s. Cooper’s eventually encouraged to spy on his wife, a decision that proves disastrous to his already-fractured marriage.

The juxtaposition of these “past” and far-future sequences is generally well done, but the transitions aren’t always as effective as they could be due to less-than-seamless editing on a few occasions. That’s my roundabout way of saying certain revelations depicted during Fallout’s first season -- the opening nuclear blast notwithstanding, of course -- feel a little “too much, too soon” for a series with only eight episodes under its belt. But that’s really my only complaint about this otherwise impressive run: it hits the ground running in relatively short order, effectively draws interesting parallels between several key characters, explores unlikely friendships and other alliances, and of course leaves enough room to lay the groundwork for a second season that’s well into production and prepped for launch this December.

Needless to say, there’s a lot to like here and, those small missteps aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this debut season of Fallout which can be easily binge-watched in a few days… maybe even less than that, if you’re more of a Vault-dweller. Amazon Prime is its primary home but Warner Bros., in conjunction with MGM, now offers Season One as separate Blu-ray and 4K editions with a 4K Steelbook variant available as well. All three offer proportionately great A/V merits and a surprisingly solid set of extras, making Fallout a can’t-miss purchase for long-time game fans and newcomers alike -- I’m relatively new to the franchise and had absolutely no problem jumping right in with both feet.

Fallout: Season One 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: These screenshots are sourced from the Blu-ray edition, available separately and reviewed here.

Shot on 35mm film, Fallout can't help but impress in its native 4K and, on almost all fronts, surpasses its streaming counterparts with energy to spare. As presented on this trio of triple-layered discs, the majority of these eight episodes play without a hitch* thanks to a high variable bit rate that gives this content plenty of room to breathe while serving up tack-sharp detail, excellent color reproduction, deep black levels, and a fine layer of film grain. With one exception detailed below, obvious compression anomalies such as macro blocking and banding are nowhere to be found, even in some cases where the bit rate drops into much lower 30-40 Mbps territory and, as such, makes Fallout one of the best-looking TV-on-4K releases around. Die-hard fans will have a lot of fun picking out any number of presumed Easter eggs lurking in the background, now easier than ever thanks to the clarity and visual punch of these 2160p/HDR10/Dolby Vision transfers that help bring every aspect this meticulously-designed series to life.

* The lone exception is the first episode, "The End", which exhibits stray signs of macro blocking and occasional chunky grain; this especially holds true where true blacks and brightest whites are concerned. Depending on the sensitivity and size of your setup, not to mention video settings, these issues may be more visible to some while others might barely notice them at all in motion. This obviously keeps Fallout out of certified five-star territory but it certainly isn't a deal-breaker, especially since this intermittent problem doesn't seem to noticeably affect other episodes.

Fallout: Season One 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Equally impressive is the Dolby Atmos audio mix, which also does its part in bringing Fallout to convincing life with crystal-clear dialogue, ample amounts of panning and discrete surround effects (including the Atmos-exclusive height channels, of course), and plenty of LFE activity including deep explosions and the tremendous, room-shaking weight of massive Vault doors opening and closing. The original score by Ramin Djawadi adds an appreciated amount amount of sonic texture to specific moments and sequences, as do the choice cuts of classic mid-19th century songs that often provide ironic emotional contrast with what actually appears on-screen. Plain and simple, all of these elements pair perfectly with the visuals to deliver a definitive presentation that similarly launches past the typical shortcomings of streaming audio, and as such will likely be enjoyed at the highest volume possible.

Optional subtitles, including English (SDH), are included during these episodes and all extras listed below.

Fallout: Season One 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This three-disc set ships in a keepcase with attractive cover artwork. No Digital Copy is included (not a surprise), but we do get a rather nice assortment of bonus features as detailed below.

DISC ONE

• Audio Commentary - Director Jonathan Nolan and actor Walton Goggins sit down for this episode-length chat during "The End", serving up a relaxed and enjoyable commentary with topics including Nolan's appreciation for the original video games, building a world based on specific concepts and elements, the script-to-screen process, learning rope tricks, and more. It's a lively and candid session that stays reasonably active from start to finish, though bits and pieces will later be repeated during a few featurettes below. Speaking of which...

DISC THREE

• Inside Episode 1 (68:03) - Oddly placed on Disc 3 rather than Disc 1, this is actually just a video recording of Nolan and Goggins' audio commentary for "The End" with picture-in-picture playback of the episode.

• Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes - The centerpiece of these extras is a generous assortment of bite-sized to mid-length pieces detailing various aspects of Fallout's first season as well as specific scenes and characters. Most are self-explanatory, but brief summaries are provided as needed along with key contributors.

• Inside Season One (18:02) - This more traditional behind-the-scenes piece touches upon a few basic production elements and includes more comments with Nolan and Goggins as well as showrunners Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner, executive producer and original game developer Todd Howard, sound mixer Tod Maitland, costume designer Amy Westcott, and several others.
• Creating the Wasteland (3:46) - Key members of the VFX team talk practical and CGI effects.
• Safe and Sound (2:37) - Editor Ali Comperchio, composer Ramin Djawadi, and others speak about original music, selecting classic songs for ironic contracts, and the importance of sound design.
• Set Your Sets on 2296 (2:23) - An all-too-brief look at cinematography and location shooting.
• The Costumes of Fallout (2:43)
• Writing for the Wasteland (2:26) - The advantages and challenges of creating an original story that felt true to the original video game series' world and its curious blend of tones.
• Meet the Filmmaker (and Fanatic) Jonathan Nolan (3:04) - Nolan speaks about his love of the games and dedication to helping make a series he'd want to see as a long-time fan.
• Prosthetics & Makeup Gone Nuclear (2:47) - Ghouls, gore, and other goodies.
• Becoming The Ghoul (2:08) - A look at Goggins' two characters hosted by the man himself.
• Console to Camera (2:52) - Todd Howard returns to speak more about the show's careful adaptation of the franchise's atmosphere, technology, costumes, and other details.
• Welcome to the World of Fallout (2:41) - Perhaps the most overtly promotional piece, this one feels as much like a trailer as anything else with a quick look at the characters and storyline setup.

• Vault Seller's Survival Guide (7 clips, 17:28) - The last of these extras is a neat assortment of short black-and-white Vault-Tec promotional films; some were seen in part during Season 1 and all feature clever animation, period-specific stylistic touches, and "hosting" by V-T exec Bud Askins (Michael Esper). A nice touch!

Fallout: Season One 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Soon entering its second season, Amazon/MGM's well-received adaptation of Fallout makes for great TV and should appeal to die-hard fans of the franchise and newcomers alike. Small speed bumps are present during this eight-episode first season, but it's an impressive run overall and features great characters, absolutely top-tier production design, and staggering attention to detail. Now available on separate Blu-ray and 4K editions with a 4K Steelbook variant as well, all have overwhelmingly good A/V merits and a healthy assortment of extras. Very Highly Recommended.