Amazon's Fallout TV series reveals its first official image

Fallout TV series still
(Image credit: Amazon Studios)

The Fallout TV series announced by Amazon in 2020 began production this year, and now with 2022 rapidly drawing to a close—and with the 25th anniversary of the original Fallout upon us—we're finally getting our first look at it.

To be fair, the image shared on Twitter by Prime Video isn't much to look at: A figure standing in an open vault door, silhouetted by the bright backlight of the wasteland sun. But that doesn't mean we can't take anything away from it. First, though, you can see it full-size by clicking the icon in the upper-right corner of the image below:

(Image credit: Amazon Studios)

The most obvious thing is that the folks in the foreground of the image are apparently dwellers of Vault 33. According to the Fallout Fandom Wiki, Vault 33 hasn't been explored in Fallout lore: It's only been seen previously in Bethesda Pinball. Vault numbers below 50 also indicate a west coast location for the Vault in Amazon's series. 

It's also interesting that an August leak revealed images from inside Vault 32, not 33, although it's quite possible that the show will focus on more than one Vault—there were many of them, after all. The sign on the railing—no food or drink, operational silence, restrict movement, etc—also matches up with one seen in the same spot in Fallout 4.

It also seems likely that the Vault's opening will not be a peaceful affair. You will notice that someone appears to be down and perhaps dead just inside the door. As for the person standing in the doorway, they look to be wearing a Pip-Boy on their left arm and holding a pistol in their right as they venture out into the world—although I suppose it's possible that they're a lefty, they've just dropped the guy who answered the door, and now they're getting ready to cause some real trouble.

That would actually match up pretty well with the Fallout 2 intro cinematic, which includes a sequence that looks very much like this Amazon image:

It makes sense that Amazon would want to use Vaults with no established history for its show, because that gives creators the freedom to do pretty much whatever they want with the people inside of them. And even though we're not coming away with any big revelations from this image, it at least looks the part. I'd call that a good start.

Production of Amazon's Fallout series was disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and it currently does not have a release date. For now, we're optimistic for sometime around the middle of 2023, and we'll keep you posted.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.