Todd Howard says that the Fallout franchise is 'a cautionary tale', and that 'that world before the bombs fall' is what makes it so special

Fallout is a lot of things, but it is, at its core, satire—a long and exhaustive example of where cold war-era browbeating could've led us: A world blasted, irradiated, and filled with Deathclaws. The furries might be excited about that last bit, but I like my insides un-gouged out, thank you very much.

Speaking to PCG's own Elie Gould, executive producer at Bethesda, Todd Howard—who you might know as the guy responsible for The Elder Scrolls and later entrants in the Fallout series, sans New Vegas—says that the dystopic, serious elements are "key to how the world of Fallout became what it is."

He tells Elie that "it's a check back on our own world, a cautionary tale in some respects. I think the world of Fallout that really makes it special is that world before the bombs fall, right? And that's what separates it from other post-apocalyptic fiction."

That pre-nuke world being flooded with a lot of retro-futurism built on nuclear power: Power that whipped up the world governments into such a frenzy that they dropped a buncha bombs about it, though according to the original lead, China apparently started it.

The result? Man-made horrors beyond comprehension, ghouls with sloughing flesh, cockroaches the size of dogs, and a lot of really good music. Howard's right in asserting that the optimistic Stepford smile of a society perpetually on the brink of war is what makes Fallout so lively—since that wartime spirit endures like an echo in a world completely unsuited to it.

"You mentioned it being serious, and that's one thing that's really tricky that we talk a lot about, is tone. You have to have these serious, really hard moral choices and moments. And then the next scene, you're being goofy and blowing heads up."

Basically, balancing the comedic satire of the pre-war world with the bloody horrors of a post apocalypse: "Having that change, and having the actors be able to do both, really, is a trick that sort of makes the whole thing tick."

It's a balance so difficult, in fact, that for a moment Howard—and the folks making the Fallout TV show—weren't even sure if the iconic line "War, War Never Changes" was too goofy for the silver screen. Luckily, they erred on the side of leaning into the spirit of the thing.

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