Before Fallout Season 2, Ella Purnell Led a Dark Fantasy Epic That Rivals Harry Potter
Before Fallout turned her into a vault-dwelling sensation, Ella Purnell teamed with Tim Burton on Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, a neo-gothic riff that upended the Harry Potter playbook.
Ella Purnell is all over the Fallout conversation right now thanks to her lead turn as Lucy. But before she was crawling through vaults and dodging irradiated nightmares, she was on a very different kind of set: Tim Burton’s 2016 gothic fantasy Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Same high stakes, wildly different vibe — and, as she tells it, a lot of pressure.
The Burton movie that put Purnell on the spot
Back in 2016, Purnell landed Emma Bloom in Miss Peregrine’s, Burton’s oddball spin on the whole school-for-gifted-kids idea — less wizard robes, more beautifully eerie visuals and offbeat rules. It did solid business at the box office and had that unmistakable Burton sheen people still remember.
She’d worked before, sure, but realizing she was about to do this under Tim Burton’s eye? That hit different. In a Nylon interview, she admitted the moment the role became real came with a major jolt of nerves.
"The day I found out I got the part I was in complete shock, but then [I felt] this immense pressure, too. It took a few days to sink in, but once I got on set and met everyone, and got my costumes, the professional part of my brain kicked in and it was just like another job."
It’s a very relatable arc: panic, then professionalism. And it clearly paid off — she held her own in a starry lineup that included Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Samuel L. Jackson, and Judi Dench.
- Movie: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2016)
- Director: Tim Burton
- Cast: Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Samuel L. Jackson, Ella Purnell, Judi Dench
- Rotten Tomatoes: 65% critics, 60% audience
- Box office: $296 million worldwide
- Where to watch: Available to rent/buy on Amazon Video
From Peculiar to post-apocalyptic
Fast-forward to Fallout. Season 2 is being teased as a harder hit than the first, and Purnell looks fully locked in as the face of the show — her performance has even been called near-flawless by more than a few fans. But the job didn’t just level up her career; it changed some day-to-day habits, too.
In a Collider chat, she broke down how the prep looked more like an action star’s regimen than anything else she’d done — months of physical training, stunt work, the whole deal — and she’s pretty candid about who she was going in versus who she became doing it.
"Oh, that’s such a lovely thing. How nice is that? I am proud of my stunt work because I am a clumsy, uncoordinated, not-fit person. Or I was. I did break a few props, but I didn’t hurt anyone and I didn’t hurt myself [laughs], and I stretched and I warmed up and I got fit, and I quit smoking. That’s not something I ever thought I could do, so I’m proud."
That’s the good kind of role creep — when the job pushes you and you come out with a healthier routine and a new skill set, not just a credit on the resume.
Fallout is currently streaming on Prime Video.