Fallout: New Vegas designer Chris Avellone says the TV show's dialogue makes him 'embarrassed'

Chris Avellone, lead designer on Fallout: New Vegas, has gone on record saying some of the dialogue in Amazon's Fallout TV series makes him feel "embarrassed" — though he's quick to add it's still a fun watch.

Avellone made the comments on Insider Gaming's Access Granted podcast, drawing a direct comparison to Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. He praised Edgerunners outright, then said he wishes the Fallout show's script quality were a bit higher. His broader critique is aimed at a pattern he sees across Hollywood adaptations: writers who haven't played the source games — Fallout 3, Fallout 4, New Vegas — dismissing the game writers' work and rushing to put their own spin on the franchise. "I think, for some of them, it's really easy to dismiss that work and go in their own direction, which they think is more solid," he said. "But the problem is, when they do that, they don't have any sense of... a lot of the context is gone, as well as opportunities." He was careful to say this doesn't apply to all Hollywood writers, just a pattern he's observed.

Avellone's take sits in contrast to that of Fallout: New Vegas director Josh Sawyer, who called the show an "amazing adaptation" and one of the best game-to-screen conversions he's seen. Avellone himself praised Ella Purnell's and Walton Goggins' performances specifically, so his criticism is squarely aimed at the writing rather than the production as a whole. The Fallout series has been one of Amazon Prime Video's biggest hits, and the debate over how faithfully it captures the games' tone has been running since season one launched in 2024.

Season 3 is currently projected to arrive on Prime Video sometime in 2027. The cast recently added Manny Jacinto, known from Star Wars: The Acolyte, and Bethesda's Todd Howard has teased "new things" including geographical locations never seen in the games before.