Todd Howard didn't want the Fallout TV show to adapt Fallout 3: "We told that story"

Fallout series lead Todd Howard has said he didn't want the forthcoming Amazon Fallout TV show to retell the story of Fallout 3.

In a new interview with Vanity Fair, the Bethesda Game Studios veteran said he deliberately pivoted the adaptation away from retelling the story of Fallout 3. "I did not want to do an interpretation of an existing story we did," Howard said, adding that himself and Bethesda were sold when writer Jonathan Nolan pitched an entirely new story in the Fallout universe.

"That was the other thing - a lot of pitches were, you know, 'this is the movie of Fallout 3,' and I was like 'yeah, we told that story,'" Howard continues. "I don’t have a lot of interest seeing those translated. I was interested in someone telling a unique Fallout story. Treat it like a game. It gives the creators of the series their own playground to play in."

Elsewhere in the new interview, Howard confirmed that everything in the new Fallout TV show is canon. The show takes place around Los Angeles, where Ella Purnell's Lucy will eventually emerge from Vault 33, where she's spent her entire life living so far with her father, played by Kyle MacLachlan. 

Admittedly, that does sound a little bit like Fallout 3 - the tutorial of the third mainline entry had players setting out into the wilderness in pursuit of their father, played by Liam Neeson, who left the vault. Right now, we aren't too clear about where Purnell's Lucy will be heading once they leave the vault into the post-apocalyptic surroundings of LA.

While you wait for the Fallout series to eventually roll around next year, check out our guide to all the best TV shows on Amazon Prime Video to stream now.