The Fallout TV show went the extra mile – by creating a real-life Pip-Boy for its cast to use (2024)

Fallout has gone the extra mile with its upcoming TV adaptation – by creating a real-life Pip-Boy for its cast to use on the show.

Speaking to GamesRadar+, Kyle MacLachlan – who plays Overseer Hank MacLean on the Prime Video series – recalled using the iconic wrist gadget, a mainstay of the player character in the Fallout series that acts as both an inventory and information hub.

"I love working with the little Pip-Boy. Taking that idea, an animated concept, and turning it into a real piece of working equipment, that was really fun," MacLachlan says. "They actually did program some stuff in there that we could play with."

When pressed on what exactly was on the Pip-Boy, MacLachlan revealed there were "little location things [and] some other movement".

"It was all pre-programmed, of course, but you actually had something you could interact with which is not just a blank something that you’re looking at. There was actually activity going on there, which is very helpful as an actor," MacLachlan explains.

Kyle MacLachlan’s on-screen daughter, Yellowjacket’s Ella Purnell, also had a similar reaction to the tactile nature of the game-accurate sets and props.

"Putting on the Vault Suit for the first time, and the Pip-Boy, and walking into the Vault that was built up in real life in this set in New York was insane," Purnell recalls. "The attention to detail was insane."

Purnell continues, "I really do think it allows you to be better at your job because you’re reacting in real time. You’re able to improvise a little and collaborate with your director because you’re able to say, ‘Well, what if I did this?’ because you’ve got props all around you, every notebook is full. You get to really play. It is a playground, isn’t it?"

Fallout, starring Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, Walton Goggins, and Kyle MacLachlan, is streaming on Prime Video from April 11. For more, check out the rest of our coverage:

• Fallout TV show
• Fallout TV show stars and creators on working with Todd Howard: "It means a lot to get his approval"
• Fallout TV show star Walton Goggins intentionally chose not to play Fallout, even after getting the job
• Fallout cast watched Twitch and YouTube streams of the games before filming: "Watching people play was vital"
• Kyle MacLachlan immediately sells us on Fallout – by comparing it to two of his greatest works: Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet
• Fallout release schedule
• Fallout season 1 review: "A big Vault Boy-style thumbs up"
• Is the Fallout TV show canon? Here’s what Bethesda’s Todd Howard and the showrunners have to say
• Fallout season 1 ending explained: Hank, Bud’s Buds, and *that* finale location
• When does the Fallout TV show take place on the series timeline?
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• All of the Fallout Easter eggs we spotted in the TV show
• Fallout’s finale may have just answered the centuries-old mystery behind who started the nuclear apocalypse
• The Fallout TV show just revealed the canon origins of Vault Boy's signature thumbs up
• Fallout season 2 sets up [SPOILER] as a major season 2 location