New photos from the set of Prime Video's live-action adaptation of Fallout offer a look at a faithfully-recreated Red Rocket gas station.
Shared on Reddit, the photos show that the Fallout crew has transformed a gas station in Nyack, New York into a Red Rocket location. Red Rocket is a prominent fuel station chain in the Fallout video game universe, the locations of which are easily identifiable by the distinctive shape of their canopies. That said, the live-action set does not appear to have been finished when the photos were taken, as it's missing the "Red Rocket" sign, as well as the actual red rocket ship atop the canopy. Interestingly, this very same real-life gas station has been used in the filming of other, unrelated productions, most notably the first John Wick film starring Keanu Reeves.
The Red Rocket chain was introduced to the Fallout universe in the 2008 game Fallout 3, which is set in the Capital Wasteland (i.e. the remains of Washington, D.C. and the surrounding area). However, the version of the gas station featured in the Prime Video series appears to be based directly on the Red Rocket locations featured in 2015's Fallout 4, which instead takes place in the Commonwealth (i.e. the remains of Boston and the surrounding area). At any rate, the Red Rocket's inclusion seems to strengthen the notion that the live-action Fallout series will take place in the East Coast.
After all, the only Fallout games to feature Red Rocket locations are Fallout 3, Fallout 4 and Fallout 76, the latter of which is set in Appalachia (i.e. West Virginia and the surrounding area). The gas station is not featured in the original Fallout, Fallout 2 or Fallout: New Vegas, which are all set on the West Coast. What's more, the Red Rocket isn't the only East Coast staple to be featured in the Prime Video series. Set videos have also revealed the Super Duper-Mart, a chain of supermarkets that similarly only appears in Fallout 3, 4 and 76.
Prime Video's Fallout Series Tells a Brand-New Story
That said, according to Bethesda Game Studios head Todd Howard, Prime Video's Fallout series will not adapt the story of any one of the existing video games, but will instead tell an all-new story set within the same universe. "When people wanted to make a movie, they wanted to tell the story of Fallout 3 or tell the story of Fallout 4, and it was meh," Howard said regarding previous attempts to adapt Fallout for screens. "For this it was, 'Hey, let's do something that exists within the world of Fallout.'"
Howard continued, "It's not retelling a game story. It's basically an area of the map. Let's tell a story here that fits in the world that we have built, doesn't break any of the rules, can reference things in the games, but isn't a retelling of the games." He concluded, "[It] exists in the same world but is its own unique thing, so it adds to it. While also, people who haven't played the games -- who can't experience how crazy cool Fallout is -- can watch the series."
News first broke in July 2020 that Amazon Studios had tapped Westworld creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy to develop a Fallout series for Prime Video. In January 2022, it was reported that the project was moving forward, with Nolan attached to direct the show's premiere episode. Additionally, Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner were tapped as showrunners. Nolan, Joy and Athena Wickham of Kilter Films are executive producing alongside the aforementioned Howard (game director of Fallout 3, 4 and 76) and Bethesda Softworks' James Altman. The series' cast includes Walton Goggins, Ella Purnell, Kyle MacLachlan, Xelia Mendes-Jones and Aaron Moten.