ActorElla Purnellhad already experienced what fan frenzy feels like with the hit showYellowjackets, but nothing can compare to the sort of scrutiny that starring in a hot franchise property brings. Purnell recently starred as Lucy MacLean in Prime Video’sFallout, a series based on the blockbuster post-apocalyptic video game franchise. She spoke to Collider’sSteve Weintraubduring a panel at FanExpo Chicago about the exact moment on set when she knew that the show was going to be huge andrecalled memories of her first dayon set wearing the Vault suit.
Purnell said thatmaking the show wasn’t easy, and remembered one scene in particular that had her and her co-star,Walton Goggins, struggling under layers of costume and prosthetics. But it was something that her makeup artist said to her at the moment that has stuck with her this whole time. Asked if the cast and crew knew that they were onto something while they were making the show, she said, “It was when we were filming the scene where Lucy andthe Ghoulare fighting on the docks, with this giant, 15-foot, mutated salamander.” She continued:
“It was so tough. It was 100 degrees. Walton was sweating, because he was head-to-toe in prosthetics, and he’s wearing a shirt, a waistcoat, a jacket, and a hat. They could not have put him in more clothes if they tried. It was challenging. There was slime everywhere, everyone was falling over, everyone was sweating. I was missing a shoe. And my makeup artist, Mike Harvey, he was like, ‘You know, it’s the toughest shoots that make the best shows’. Even though it was so tough, and the crew was struggling, the cast was struggling, and it was very tense, we all kind of knew. And we pushed through because we knew that we were making something really cool.”
Purnell said that this was “early on” in the shoot, anddescribedFalloutas “the greatest thing (she’s) ever done.”Recalling her first day on set, she said, “I’d played the games, and spent so much time researching; living, breathing, eating everythingFallout. And putting on the Vault suit for the first time, I got emotional.It was not lost on me how important this is, and what a special and profound opportunity I’d been given. I wanted to do it justice, and it was incredibly humbling.”
The Second Season of ‘Fallout’ Is Expected To Begin Filming Later This Year
Purnell also recalled walking ontothe Vault setfor the first time. “It’s massive… You’re in the game, it’s so cool. It sort of leaves you speechless, how vast this is.Jonah Nolanlikes to throw you in the deep end, and my first day of filming was the big fight sequence when the raiders come into the Vault in the first episode, followed by the love scene. That was my first day! Chaotic, I’ll never forget it,” she said.
Falloutpremiered on Prime Video in April andwasreceived warmlyby critics and fans of the games. The show went on to earn 16 nominations at the Emmys and wasswiftly renewed fora second season. Purnell played it coy when asked for any information about the second season, and said that she’s been trying (unsuccessfully) to get her hands on some scripts.
You can stream Season 1 ofFallouton Prime Video. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
In a future, post-apocalyptic Los Angeles brought about by nuclear decimation, citizens must live in underground bunkers to protect themselves from radiation, mutants and bandits.
