“Fallout” stars let the end times roll in EW's cover shoot — see the exclusive photos
- - “Fallout” stars let the end times roll in EW's cover shoot — see the exclusive photos
Lauren HuffJanuary 29, 2026 at 2:00 AM
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'Fallout' stars Walton Goggins, Ella Purnell, and Aaron Moten photographed exclusively for EW
Abi Polinsky
Viva New Vegas!
Fallout stars Walton Goggins, Ella Purnell, and Aaron Moten let the end times roll in Entertainment Weekly's exclusive cover shoot ahead of the Prime Video series' "explosive" season 2 finale on Feb. 3.
The actors show their hands on what to expect in the final moments of the season — and break down that massive penultimate episode — in EW's latest cover story. See all the fun photos from the Vegas-inspired shoot, below.
01 of 10
Roll the dice
Walton Goggins photographed exclusively for EW
Abi Polinsky
When it comes to whether or not he was daunted by season 1's success heading into its successor, Goggins says he simply doesn't live his life that way.
"I've been around for 25, 30 years. I've done 10, 12 series that have gone the distance," he says. "And what I did know is that if you can build a critical mass in season 1 and chapter 1 of an experience, then you have an opportunity to do something transcendent in season 2. Don't play it safe, but be bold and lean into your vision of this world. And luckily for us, the people that create this show, the people that write it and direct it, decided to do that. And we, in front of the camera, we're all game for that."
02 of 10
Rolling in the deep
Aaron Moten photographed exclusively for EW
Abi Polinsky
Moten says one of his favorite scenes to shoot in season 2 was a surprising one: the fireside chat between his character, Maximus, and Johnny Pemberton's mutating Thaddeus.
"It's a really beautiful moment of those two characters finding some sense of understanding of where the other's perspective is," he says. "But we also get this sense of the things that we've been in conversation with since the first season with Maximus, but now the audience gets to be invited into that experience. And that is what is it like to have a memory of something different than life in the Wasteland and to have that be taken away from him."
03 of 10
Take a turn
Ella Purnell photographed exclusively for EW
Abi Polinsky
Purnell's character, Lucy, is a bit smarter and less naive in season 2, and there's one scene that really exemplifies that shift.
"There's one line that I really love, where on [the Ghoul and Lucy's] road trip, the Ghoul says to her, 'I hate to break it to you, sweetie, but the way you were raised wasn't real,'" Purnell recalls. "And Lucy just very simply responds, 'I know, but look at the alternative.' And they're looking around at this post-apocalyptic Wasteland with the weight of all of that history. And it's such a simple line. And I don't know, just to me, it really sums up — Lucy, she has changed and that change might not be immediately visible on the surface. Yes, she's still presenting with her niceties first. She's still trying to hold onto her moral compass, but she's no longer completely inexperienced and naive to the point of disillusion. That illusion has well and truly broken. She has a ghoul finger! But I just love the simplicity of that line — she knows that the way she was raised isn't real, but that doesn't mean she isn't real. She's just smarter now, I think."
04 of 10
Stacking the deck
Walton Goggins, Aaron Moten, and Ella Purnell photographed exclusively for EW
Abi Polinsky
Geneva Robertson-Dworet (who shares showrunner duties with Graham Wagner) says fans can expect a finale that answers a lot of questions... while still introducing a whole lot more.
"I always, just as a personal preference, I like finales that both answer my pressing questions, but leave me with enough new ones," she says. "And frankly, that comes very naturally to the Fallout universe. Our show is showing regional stories and this is a massive universe. We are always pointing outwards towards other parts of it that we have not yet explored. And so, for example, there is this force that wields a great deal of influence in the Fallout world in a somewhat cyclical way, but nevertheless, I think they are present in many, many parts of the Fallout world and very, very powerful, and we're interested in hinting at what they might be up to."
05 of 10
Yeehaw
Walton Goggins photographed exclusively for EW
Abi Polinsky
Part of what has made season 2 so special to Goggins is the way his dual storylines — as Cooper Howard in the past and the Ghoul in the future — have "dovetailed" into each other.
"They see each other in an even more profound way than they did in season 1," he says. "[Cooper's] story wasn't really being told in season 1, and I think it is in season 2. And so I was surprised at how seamless those transitions were between the two, even though it was all intentional. I felt like they were speaking to each other over time in a very profound way."
06 of 10
Shining bright
Ella Purnell photographed exclusively for EW
Abi Polinsky
"Honestly, some of my favorite days on set are the days where I get to work with Kyle [MacLachlan]," she says of her costar who plays Lucy's dad, Hank. "It's just such a joy. I think we're quite similar. I think he would say the same thing, that we both like to have fun on set. We're very chatty and playful and keep the energy light, try to keep morale up between takes, finding a bit of joy and humor so it doesn't get too heavy, since especially their scenes do get quite heavy."
Episode 7 allowed them to have a bit of fun in-character, though. At one point, Hank gets to introduce Lucy to the joys of golf carts.
"It was really fun. I like finding the moments of comedy in the moments of intensity, and that scene you're talking about in the golf cart... It's sort of almost like when you meet up with an old ex and there's obviously tension because we used to date, but then you can't help but fall back into the familiar patterns."
She continues, "So for him, it's like this beautiful coming-of-age moment where he's teaching his daughter to drive, and for her, it's like trying to push down those feelings. Don't fall for it, don't fall for it. He's a monster, he's evil. She's trying to keep hold of that because all she wants to do, really, is just have a hug."
07 of 10
Bright lights, Vegas nights
Aaron Moten photographed exclusively for EW
Abi Polinsky
"I think this season, a lot of it is about you not being your worst decision, as a human being," Moten says of the various character arcs in season 2. "You're actually an accumulated spectrum of so many different things and experiences, right?"
So, does he think Maximus is a good person after everything he's done?
"I think he is a good person. I think he will always be a good person. I think he's capable of horrible things. And I think that's everybody. I think that's every human being. The morality is always a question in this show."
08 of 10
Sin City
Walton Goggins photographed exclusively for EW
Abi Polinsky
Now that the show is wrapping up its time in New Vegas, Goggins just hopes the show sticks to its roots moving forward: "I think we're all asking ourselves, how did we get here and where the f--- are we going? And I think that is very much a part of the experience of Fallout. How did the world get here and in rebuilding the world, where the f--- are we going? And I just harken back to that line that Aaron had in season 1, which has just kind of been a mantra for me. And it was, 'Everybody wants to save the world, they just disagree on how to go about it.' And I think that's just history repeating itself over and over and over and over again. And we're not political on this show, no one's doing any of this because we're standing on a soapbox trying to say something. We're trying to say something because it's inherent in the DNA of the game, and it's where naturally these people would go."
09 of 10
Spin the wheel
Ella Purnell photographed exclusively for EW
Abi Polinsky
"Conflicted, explosive and character-defining" is how Purnell describes the finale to EW.
For Lucy, specifically, she teases, "I think you get to see Lucy be a real human with real human problems. And I think at times, because of her strength and her optimism, it doesn't always feel that way with her. She doesn't feel entirely relatable because I think she has a higher tolerance than I do, or you and me might. But I think in this moment, and that maybe says a lot about what her choices and decisions are, she's flawed and she's actually just getting more and more human."
10 of 10
What happens in Vegas
Aaron Moten photographed exclusively for EW
Abi Polinsky
Moten has the unique honor of battling up against the infamous Deathclaws in the final episodes of season 2. He gamely tells us the funniest goof he had working with the massive puppets that were built to depict the creatures.
"Gosh, there's a moment that I had with the Deathclaws where they were like feeding off of something on the ground," he says. "I didn't know that that's what they were doing, and they had to kind of tell me, 'Oh no, no, no, this is supposed to be a frightening thing to look at.' You know what I mean? I kind of thought, 'Oh, it's like a cat, I guess.' I thought it was like licking itself, or giving himself a bath, or doing something weird. I didn't know how to react to it."
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