On 17 December, Fallout will return for its second season, reuniting viewers with fan-favourite character The Ghoul.
Portrayed by Walton Goggins, The Ghoul became somewhat of a, uh, unexpected sex symbol when Fallout debuted last year.
And no, I’m not talking about the pre-war Cooper Howard; it’s the noseless fella who left many feeling hot and bothered.
Why? Well, I don’t quite understand it myself but I suppose there’s a certain level of rizz that The Ghoul commands with his nonchalant drawl and gunslinger aesthetic.
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Or as Fallout Season 2 star Justin Theroux puts it, “200 years really put some sexiness in that voice.”
Even Robert House Star Justin Theroux Cannot Deny The Ghoul’s Rizz
“He is kind of a sexy character by the way,” Justin said to Walton, when I recently sat down to speak to the duo.
Justin portrays New Vegas’ Robert House, joining Fallout for its second season.
“I think The Ghoul has sort of got … not that Cooper Howard doesn’t have a certain magnetism, but that 200 years really put some sexiness in that voice. It really did,” he said, much to Walton’s amusement.
“Hey, look, I don't question anyone's response to anything. I just ride the waves as it comes,” Walton replied.
“I've had the good fortune to have a lot of conversations with a lot of people over the last couple of years and being on the road, and I find it very, very flattering,” he added of The Ghoul’s heartthrob status.
“You know, I hope that [viewers] are as obsessed with him in season two.”
Season 2 Will Bridge The Ghoul’s Past To His Present
This season will continue to delve deeper into The Ghoul’s, or Cooper Howard’s past, with both timelines aiming to shed light on what happened to his family.
I was eager to discover how Walton approached the challenge of bridging the two vastly different eras we see of this character.
“I don't think about it as two different characters,” he began. “Cooper Howard is real to me; he's a real person.”
“When, you know, I was given the opportunity to kind of go on this journey with everyone, the first thing I did was question, well, ‘Who was he losing jobs to?’ You know what I mean? ‘Who would he see in a room? Who were his drinking buddies?’ and I just watched as much video as I could find on Alan Ladd or James Arness, or any one of these guys, or the Duke [John Wayne].”
As a reminder, Cooper is a major screen star prior to the bombs falling.
“And there are so many one-off interviews, you know, black and white interviews from the 50s,” Walton continued. “They just conducted themselves in such a different way and I just thought, ‘No matter what. They both have a wicked sense of humour.’
“If Cooper Howard has a cool sense of humour, well, you don't lose a sense of humour. Even though you may be affected by all the things that you've seen, that's still there. You don't lose a way of walking, right? That's still there and all the rest of it.”
He continued, “The thing that I was most surprised about when I watched it [Season 2] because I've seen five episodes, in Season 1, we don't spend a lot of time with Cooper Howard, and I knew that, but Season 2, you really start to understand who he is as a person.
“And what I didn't realise, what was happening in real time is that every time you cut back to The Ghoul after spending a considerable amount of time with Cooper Howard, you just fill in all the blanks.
“He doesn't have to do anything. You know exactly where he came from and what this moment in time was like for him and how much it's consumed his thoughts over all these years.”
Fallout Season 2 returns on Prime Video on 17 December.
Topics: Fallout, Bethesda, Interview, TV And Film, Amazon