Forget CGI: Fallout Season 2 Unleashes a Puppeteer-Driven Deathclaw
Walton Goggins balked at the initial design, a red flag that triggered a creative overhaul and reshaped the project’s direction.
Fallout season 2 is bringing out one of the franchise’s biggest nightmares, and no, they didn’t cheap out with wall-to-wall CG. The Deathclaw is coming to TV, and a lot of it is actually there on set. As in: giant puppet, real puppeteers, actors yelling at a massive horned monster that actually exists in front of them. This is the fun kind of madness.
The Deathclaw is (mostly) real
Walton Goggins, who plays the Ghoul, told SFX magazine he initially couldn’t process production designer Howard Cummings’ early concept art for the creature. It made sense once he saw the final approach: build the thing and bring in puppeteers to sell the scale and menace.
"It’s not a green screen; there are puppeteers manning this thing. It’s cumbersome and it’s weird, but they’re doing the work to intimidate us. It’s incredible."
That tracks with how the show has operated from the jump. Season 1 went heavy on tactile world-building: working Pip-Boys, physical props everywhere, even in-universe Vault paperwork scattered around set for Bethesda’s Todd Howard to randomly come across. If you’re wondering why the world looks grounded, it’s because so much of it actually is.
So what have we seen?
Only flashes so far. The latest season 2 trailer teases the Deathclaw, but doesn’t fully show its hand. If your palms still get sweaty thinking about that Deathclaw-packed quarry in New Vegas (if you know, you know), consider this your warning label. The show seems very aware of the creature’s legacy and is clearly saving the full reveal for maximum impact.
When and where
Fallout season 2 lands on Prime Video on December 17. Sharpen your Power Fists accordingly.