Diksha Sundriyal
The second season of Prime Video’s ‘Fallout’ brings back the post-apocalyptic land created by humans themselves. Following the explosive revelation about Cooper’s wife, Barb, and other ultrarich people planning to destroy the world to make more money, this season picks up on an even more critical point. This season also presents actor Justin Theroux in its opening scene, and clearly, he is to remain an important part of the story, at least in this season. Interestingly, the character is not named, but the audience is given a good idea about who he might be. Considering everything, he appears to be Robert House, the CEO of RobCo Industries. Interestingly, we have already seen Rafi Silver play Robert in the finale of Season 1, where he appears in the meeting where Barb proposes they should throw the bombs themselves. Does this mean the character has been recast? Not exactly. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Robert House’s Casting Decision Reflects an Important Facet of His Character
In the opening scene of the first episode of Season 2, Robert House appears on TV screens where he is played by Rafi Silver, and he talks about all the hate that his company has been receiving and why it is unfounded. Within the same scene, we see Justin Theroux, who is also playing Robert House, which can confuse many viewers. Generally, when a recasting happens, the previous actor is wholly removed from the picture. However, the fact that it doesn’t happen in ‘Fallout’ suggests that this was a deliberate decision, revealing a great deal about the kind of person House is. So, technically, Theroux is playing House, and he is the real Robert House. The one played by Silver is a fake Robert, a decoy, a lookalike who is sent in Robert’s place to deal with the world. He appears in interviews and the like, so that the world sees and recognizes him as Robert, while the real Robert can go around bars, testing his new tech on regular people.
This anonymity is the reason why House chooses to keep a decoy, knowing very well that a public image comes with all sorts of problems. An example of his problem is that the common worker dislikes him, his company, and its robots. If they see him out on the streets, they will not only recognise him but also most likely beat him up because the public perception is against him through and through. By sending a decoy in his stead, he doesn’t have to worry about his safety and passes between places with a complete sense of anonymity. This was a deliberate casting choice made in the second season to demonstrate that House consistently thinks two steps ahead. It was also revealed that the character of Robert House was modeled on Howard Hughes, who preferred to live a secluded life. Justin Theroux, too, approached House through the eyes of Howard Hughes. To create a unique accent for the character, he listened to everything from radio announcers to a regular person discussing the news.
He also looked at it the way that House is a lot like the billionaires today in various aspects. So, he tried to find the things that he could borrow from them to portray the character more authentically. Calling House a “well put-together, well-spoken, bizarre, ingrown toenail of a man,” Theroux said that the scene introducing House was brilliant, as it immediately became indicative of who House is as a person and what the audience should expect from him. “It basically throws out a bunch of threads with the device, with his motivations, and it’s all obviously in the past,” he told Decider. He also pointed out that the show takes a different route from the games because House is never properly alive in the show. In the games, he appears in a very different form, which will be revealed as the story progresses. The show takes the audience into flashbacks before the bombs are triggered, allowing us to get to know the character better.
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