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The world of acting demands a profound emotional openness, often pushing performers to their limits to deliver exceptional portrayals. For Walton Goggins, this meant immersing himself in the fatigue and hardship that his character endures in the second season of Fallout.
In a conversation with DECIDER about the eagerly anticipated Prime Video adaptation of the beloved video game, Goggins, who has been nominated for an Emmy, revealed the intense state he was in while filming a pivotal scene in Episode 5, titled “The Wrangler.” This scene was shot after a grueling schedule that included wrapping up Season 3 of The White Lotus, concluding The Righteous Gemstones, and starting Fallout.
“There’s a point in Episode 5 where Cooper Howard is utterly drained, confronted with the realization of his lack of control over his surroundings, and he’s bewildered by the unfolding chaos,” Goggins shared. “I felt a mirrored sense of exhaustion that day. We had filmed the scene just after The White Lotus premiere night, and I had barely managed three hours of sleep. My energy was completely depleted, which was precisely the state I needed to be in at that moment.”
Episode five portrays Goggins’ character grappling with defeat, captured through flashbacks of his encounter with Robert House (played by Justin Theroux) in Las Vegas and in the current-day wasteland as he prepares to return Lucy (Ella Purnell) to her father. Goggins expressed to DECIDER that the fatigue linked to this episode felt “serendipitous,” as it allowed his character to reveal a strikingly human side.
“Following White Lotus, like many involved, I was utterly spent. Transitioning directly to The Righteous Gemstones was both a challenge and a blessing. Playing Baby Billy took its toll, and I arrived at Fallout just barely making it,” he explained. “Yet, this was fortuitous, as it left me emotionally raw, which was precisely what was demanded of both Cooper Howard and The Ghoul this season.”
What’s more, Goggins explained that there’s another moment from Season 2 where The Ghoul — a.k.a. the post-nuclear version of Goggins’ role — is “deeply missing his child,” and it came at exactly the right time to hit him emotionally. The scene ultimately ended up breaking him wide open, perhaps to the point where things might have gotten a little awkward behind the scenes.
“It happened to be filmed, again, on a day that I felt such shame over being away from my child for so long,” he said. Goggins — whose character in the show lost his own daughter during the nuclear apocalypse that kicks off the series — shares a teenage son, Augustus, with his wife of 15 years, Nadia Conners. “Through this irradiated cowboy, I just got to let it all out in front of all these people, and I didn’t anticipate it and see it coming, and it made everybody really uncomfortable, and it made me uncomfortable, but it was cathartic,” the actor said.
Goggins added, “And that’s the life of a storyteller, you know, we get to experience these things publicly.”
The first five episodes of Fallout Season 2 are now streaming. New episodes premiere Wednesdays on Prime Video.
