Goggins has been electrifying the big and small screen alike for three decades, particularly in his deeply committed inhabitations of complicated, conflicted, and occasionally tragic characters in some of the richest dramas television has seen since the turn of the millennium. Yet, whether it’s antagonistic Boyd Crowder in Justified, the Shakespearean doomed accomplice Shane Vendrell in The Shield, or even a smaller role such as Venus Van Dam in Sons of Anarchy, it’s through this commitment to his craft – and with the help of endless, raw charisma – that Goggins more often than not leaves the biggest impression among each of his respective casts.
Now, Goggins’ penchant for stealing the show is amplified tenfold; the actor has arguably never been as front and center as he is starring as “The Ghoul” in Amazon Prime Video’s Fallout. Adapted from the hit post-apocalyptic game series, Fallout is set more than 200 years after a global thermonuclear war brought an end to civilization in the U.S. “The Ghoul” is Goggins’ character Cooper Howard, a Western actor from before the war who has survived for centuries due to “ghoulification” from the radiation, turning him into something akin to an intelligent zombie, with scorched skin and deteriorated facial features.
“I had to understand everything about Cooper Howard in order to understand everything that The Ghoul lost,” Goggins explained in conversation with me, when detailing his ideas behind who the two respective sides of this person are. “In my mind, Cooper came from Middle America. I know the exact place, but I don’t want to say that here. He didn’t come to Hollywood to be an actor, but the West was calling to him.” As Goggins says this, it’s easy to see a lot of resonance with his own career trajectory. “Somebody saw him riding and said, ‘you should try stunt riding, it pays pretty good money.’ Before you know it he’s just an affable, likable guy with a laid back, easy way about him, a director asks him to say a few lines, and it turns out he’s pretty good at it. He didn’t seek it, it found him.”
We dive much deeper into The Ghoul during my full conversation with Walton Goggins. The acclaimed actor also offers his perspective on how he believes recent successful video game adaptations such as Fallout and The Last of Us have benefited from their predecessors, as well as a brief look back at the Vice Principals viral meme that’s led to more people discovering one of Goggins’ favorite projects he has been a part of. All this and more in my video chat below.
Walton Goggins is Emmy-nominated in the category of Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Fallout where he submitted the episode “The Ghouls.”
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