Sartaj Singh
Under the creative direction of Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner, ‘Fallout’ transports us to a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by nuclear war. Pockets of humanity managed to avoid the nuclear fallout by hiding in underground vaults, while people and animals above ground survived or mutated from the effects of radiation. The narrative follows Lucy MacLean, who has only known the small, civilized world inside her vault. She ventures out into the untamed badlands of Los Angeles, teeming with bandits, mutants, and killer robots. Hoping to revive the once-prosperous human civilization, Lucy comes across various factions and characters, each with their own idea of how to save the world.
Created for Amazon Prime and based on Bethesda’s videogame franchise of the same name, ‘Fallout’ is defined by its hostile settings. The vault dweller explores the carcass of the old world and comes across strange creatures and volatile characters. Since the future world springs from an alternate reality where the Cold War ended in nuclear devastation, much of the feel of the apocalyptic world is distinctly retro-futuristic, with console-screened tech, 60s jazz music playing on transistor radios, and vintage cars. The series immerses us in its nuclear wasteland, which features hauntingly artistic visuals of collapsed skyscrapers, rusted-out vehicles, and desert landscapes.
Where is Fallout Filmed?
The world of ‘Fallout’ is created using several real-life locations as well as studios, with filming taking place across New Jersey, New York, Utah, Nevada, and Namibia. Principal photography for the show began on June 20, 2022, and was wrapped up for the first season by March 24, 2023. The production team behind the show put a monumental amount of effort into creating a realistic depiction of the post-apocalyptic backdrops, trying to add as many practical elements as possible in place of visual effects. Allow us to take you through the sites chosen to build the sets of ‘Fallout’ and the backdrops of real-world locations that can be seen in the show.
New York City, New York
Much of the production of ‘Fallout’ takes place using sets built around New York City, especially for the first season. Locals spotted a set on Staten Island created at the site of the former ShopRite supermarket in New Dorp. The location was filled with blown-out and rusted vintage cars, old antennas, and a boarded-up front to the abandoned supermarket building. In the show, the location is depicted as Super Duper Mart.
In line with the series’ aesthetic, the dilapidated site has a 60’s feel that is nearly overshadowed by the post-apocalyptic elements of skeletons lying around in the dirt and sandbags piled up on top of cars. The vaults seen in the show were created using three studios in Brooklyn.
Nyack, New York
Scenes involving the Red Rocket gas station seen in the show are actually captured in a set built at 501 North Highland Avenue, Nyack. The stations are a staple of the game’s environment, found all over the landscape as the most common power engine stations.
Trenton, New Jersey
Traveling about 90 minutes south of New York, the team arrives at what production designer Howard Cummings has called the Grand Canyon of junkyards. Located just outside of the capital city of New Jersey, the Junkyard is crafted into a set resembling a scrapped-together town that stands in as the settlement of Filly seen in the show. “Everything was from like, late 1940s, after World War Two, to the 1960s, and it was near an Air Force base.” said Cummings in an interview. “So there was like, 40 or 50 yellow school buses with jet cockpits stuck on top of them, and I was going, ‘this is exactly what’s in the game’.”
Wendover, Utah
The filming for the Brotherhood of Steel base seen in the series takes place at Wendover Airfield, a World War II airbase that has been turned into a museum. Situated at 352 Airport Way, south of Wendover, the site became the perfect backdrop to depict the technocratic faction’s retro-futuristic facility. One of the writers of the show tipped the team about the airbase, and Cummings was pleasantly surprised to find a real-life ‘Fallout’ location in the antiquated base and its dilapidated environment.
Kolmanskop, Namibia
Shooting for the desert landscape and abandoned towns seen in the show takes place in Kolmanskop, within Nambia, located on the southwestern coast of Africa. The team found another real-life ‘Fallout’ location with the abandoned mining town of Kolmanskop. Considered a ghost town, the settlement once supplied 11.7 percent of the world’s total diamond production but was abandoned by 1956 when the supply ran out. Now, the sands of the Namibian desert pile up around the abandoned homes and railway tracks, while the hollows of the once prosperous mines stand as a testament to its colonial history. In the show, Lucy passes through the abandoned town depicted by Kolmanskop, entering the homes and uncovering fragments of the past.
An interesting tidbit about this location is that the narrative wasn’t set in Los Angeles initially but likely revolved around a post-apocalyptic New York, since so much of the production is based around New York City despite the high cost of filming there. However, when the showrunners were shooting in Kolmanskop, they could see the picturesque site of the seafront in Luderitz, a few miles away. Wanting to include the scenery in ‘Fallout,’ the creatives shifted the show’s setting to Los Angeles and made the seaside location in Luderitz appear as the Santa Monica Pier. The sites of Kolmanskop have also been used in HBO’s ‘Westworld.’
Other Locations in the US
Some of the desert sequences in the show are lensed in the badlands of Montana, likely in the Mixed Salt Desert Scrub Desert or the Gypsum Desert. A number of its sets are built in Jersey City, New Jersey. The cast and crew were also spotted shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, to capture segments for the first season’s episodes. To film the second season, the production of ‘Fallout’ has shifted from New York to Los Angeles to better keep up with the new setting for the show and benefit from the tax incentives offered there.
Read More: Best Post-Apocalyptic Movies on Netflix
