Amazon's Fallout series was a big hit, and it turns out the critics like it too. The show has been nominated for 16 Emmy awards, including a couple big ones: Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Walton Goggins.

Most of the categories Fallout is nominated in are for awards that are generally handed out off-camera—things like “Outstanding Period or Fantasy/Sci-Fi Makeup (Non-Prostethic),” or “Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One Hour),” the sorts of categories most of us likely haven't even heard of. But it's also up for awards in special visual effects, stunt performance, and writing for a drama series, which are nothing to sneeze at.

The highlight has to be the Outstanding Drama Series nom, which is great but, alas, not one I think it's likely to win. The competition is stiff, including Shogun—”a programme about a man who's so bad at boats he crashes into Japan” in the words of our own Joshua Wolens, which, okay, fair enough, although I don't think that really captures the essence of the thing—as well as 3 Body Problem, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Slow Horses, The Crown, The Gilded Age, and The Morning Show. I won't pretend to have watched any of them, but the general consensus seems to be that Shogun is the one to beat, and it's not going to be beat.

Goggins faces a similarly rough ride in the lead actor category. Other nominees include Idris Elba for Hijack, Donald Glover for Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Gary Oldman for Slow Horses, Hiroyuki Sanada for Shogun, and Dominic West for The Crown. Again, haven't watched, don't know, but it's a hell of a sexy lineup.

There seems to be a bit of confusion about the number of categories in which Fallout is nominated: Amazon claimed 17, but the Emmy website says 16. 

Regardless of the number, Bethesda is just happy to be here: The studio said on Twitter that it was “humbled and thankful to have our show be recognized.”

As someone who's been around long enough to remember when Uwe Boll beat up Lowtax for lipping off about his movies too much, it's a little hard to believe I'm saying this but Fallout's impressive Emmy performance isn't unprecedented for a videogame adaptation.

Arcane, the animated series based on League of Legends, became the first show based on a game to win an Emmy Award in 2022, while The Last of Us won a whopping eight Emmys in 2023. Even if Fallout misses out in the highlight categories, with 16 nominations to its name, I think there's a good chance it can keep the run going in 2024. 

The 2024 Emmy Awards air on September 15.