You wait an eternity for one good video game adaptation, then two come along at once. With HBO having hit paydirt with last year’s acclaimed The Last Of Us, Prime Video have now produced their own bravura adaptation with Fallout, based on the post-apocalyptic action franchise. Directed by Jonathan Nolan – brother of Oppenheimer director Christopher, with whom he collaborated on the groundbreaking Dark Knight trilogy – the Fallout series boasts an original storyline with three intersecting narratives.

Set in Los Angeles in 2296, two centuries after a nuclear war has decimated the planet, the action centres around a community living in luxury underground vaults, for whom life is altogether more cosy than the scarred survivors battling for scarce resources above ground. While cosseted vault-dweller Lucy (Ella Purnell) is shocked by what she encounters after troubling events force her into the outside world, young soldier Maximus (Aaron Moten) becomes disillusioned with the morally murky approach of his military unit, the Brotherhood of Steel.

Rounding out the triptych of lead protagonists is mutated outlaw The Ghoul (Tarantino regular Walton Goggins), whose sole concern is his survival and ruthlessly eliminating those who threaten it. Elsewhere, a separate thread focuses on down-at-heel ex-movie star Cooper Howard (also played by Goggins), who is present in Fallout’s prologue, which captures the moment in LA when the bomb drops.

It’s a truly haunting sequence, and with Christopher having sent a chill down audiences’ spines with Oppenheimer, I have to ask – are the Nolan brothers trying to scare the bejaysus out of us? Because they’re a doing a pretty damn good job, it has to be said.

“I think they’ve both been obsessed with this, or a version of this kind of reality, for a long time,” acknowledges Goggins. “Obviously, the irony isn’t lost on any of us involved in this project – what are the odds of one brother making a story about the building of the atomic bomb, and the other actually dropping the atomic bomb that ends the world in the same year? Beyond that observation, they’d have to speak further to it – but it is frighteningly cool!”

With its imagery drawing extensively on the old west and ’50s sci-fi – and the soundtrack also making inspired use of Johnny Cash – Fallout is in some ways a very American story.

“I think it explores American exceptionalism post-World War 2,” agrees Goggins. “There was this limitless optimism and sense of possibility, but ultimately it leads to the question of whether we’ve farmed out the end of the world. Whoever makes those decisions, it turns out we couldn’t solve our differences. But this show isn’t really about destroying the world, it’s about rebuilding it and what that really looks like.”

(L-R) Ella Purnell (Lucy) and Kyle MacLachlan (Overseer Hank) in “Fallout”

In his role as Ella’s father Hank MacLean, meanwhile, Kyle MacLachlan draws on the same potent mix of intense seriousness and campy humor he used to such unforgettable effect in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, the TV masterpiece in which he played Detective Dale Cooper. Indeed, MacLachlan notes that in the way it blends drama, comedy and horror, Fallout has parallels not only with Twin Peaks, but also Lynch’s 1986 arthouse noir classic, Blue Velvet.

“I appreciate what they were trying to go for,” he says, “and was comfortable within the juxtaposition of these very different, unexpected qualities, in terms of mixing humour with horror and so on. There is a tonal similarity to Twin Peaks. Also, what I’m getting from people is that it’s not dissimilar to the reaction they had when watching Blue Velvet for the first time.

“People laugh a lot during Blue Velvet, because they’re uncomfortable, and in some ways that’s the goal of these stories – to make people uncomfortable and to really question, ‘Why am I laughing? This should probably bring up a feeling of despair, but for some reason I’m finding humour.’ So it asks the audience to go through that journey.”

One of the most interesting comments Goggins has made on Fallout is that it reflects our chaotic times, where there is “an erosion of morality, an erosion of optimism”. Certainly, The Ghoul – with his survivalist paranoia, cut-throat brutality and raving style of delivery – has a very 2024 energy. It’s easy to imagine him with his own podcast, or being a political commentator on one of the major networks.

“I agree with you!” laughs Goggins. “I can see The Ghoul on CNN or the BBC as a field reporter.”

How did the actor approach playing the separate roles of The Ghoul and Cooper Howard?

“By understanding who Cooper Howard was,” says Walton. “You have to understand who one person is in order to understand what the other person has lost, and how they speak to each other over time. I had so much fun getting to know Cooper Howard, there’s a sophistication and ease to him. So much of it revolved around watching movies that were made during that time in American history, and people who Cooper Howard probably interfaced with in the acting community. It’s a fictionalised version of those people.”

At this point, Goggins understandably becomes concerned at giving away spoilers.

“Beyond that, I don’t know what more I can say!” he chuckles. “I don’t know how to answer it further in a sophisticated way, but it’s really cool man! (laughs) It really involved getting to know who Cooper Howard was to understand what The Ghoul has lost.”

Brotherhood of Steel and Vertibirds in “Fallout”

Did MacLachlan do much research for his role?

“Most of my research was just looking back on other work I’d done,” he says, “and finding similarities with some of the characters, Dale Cooper in particular. Like him, Hank is a very positive and optimistic leader, capable in any situation. And there was almost a bit of religious, evangelical calling present in Hank as well. Any sort of a politician or religious figure is going to have that quality, so I borrowed it.

“Also, really the most important thing was to call on my own relationship as a father with my son, and to recognise what that’s about. How as a dad you only want the best for your children. You try to teach them by example, and ultimately, you want to make them better than you are. Or at least give them the ability to move forward and exceed you.

“With Lucy, Hank really wants her to develop her capabilities and skills. And also for her to have an optimistic, can-do attitude, which is really how Hank likes to guide his community.”

Finally, along with The Sopranos, I think Twin Peaks is the greatest ever TV drama. In the long run, can we expect Fallout to reach those kind of lofty heights?

“Absolutely,” deadpans MacLachlan, before breaking into a playful laugh. “I have no idea! But we are hopeful, of course, that audiences – both the fans and the newcomers to the story – will get caught up in the world and the stories of these wonderful characters.”

• Fallout is available to stream now on Prime Video.