‘Fallout’ will bring Walton Goggins back to the Emmys
Walton Goggins is the sort of actor who is always reliably excellent in everything he’s in, whether it’s TV work with the likes of “Justified” or movie roles such as his work with Quentin Tarantino — chiefly “The Hateful Eight.” However, he’s never really had the chance to absorb the limelight all himself and be the number one guy. That changes now with Amazon Prime Video’s “Fallout.”
Based on the hugely popular and successful video game series, “Fallout” takes place 200 years after the USA has been decimated by nuclear warfare. The series, created by Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet and produced by Jonathan Nolan, follows several different characters and storylines — Ella Purnell‘s vault dweller Lucy, Aaron Moten‘s Brotherhood of Steel squire Maximus, and Goggins’ bounty hunter, The Ghoul.
Goggins is, indeed, the star of show — delivering the most charismatic performance of his career. As The Ghoul, Goggins is all gunslinging swagger — funny, dark, brutal, and always absorbing. Meanwhile, flashbacks to the past provide Goggins with some of the meatiest drama of his career so far. Critics agree: Goggins is a knockout in this role.
William Goodman (The Wrap) observed: “Performance-wise, keen viewers of Goggins’ career have known for quite a while that the stalwart actor has the goods, and the show doesn’t hesitate to provide one showcase moment after another. Goggins gets the full emotional spectrum to play with here — comedy, tragedy, action, adventure and more. He’s on front street from the moment the series starts and is its bleeding emotional heart.”
Kristen Baldwin (Entertainment Weekly) stated: “Goggins, who gave three Emmy-worthy performances last summer (‘I’m a Virgo,’ ‘Justified: City Primeval,’ ‘The Righteous Gemstones’), lords over Fallout as the Ghoul, a merciless mercenary with a whiskey-smooth drawl and a devilish grin. Not even layers of burn-scar prosthetics can dampen the actor’s immutable charm.”
Brian Tallerico (Roger Ebert) opined: “The Ghoul, played with slimy perfection by the great Walton Goggins…. this is really The Walton Goggins Show, through and through, to the point that it dips when he’s not on-screen, either in Ghoul form or doing some of the best dramatic work of his career in extended flashbacks.”
As a result, Goggins is in contention for an Emmy bid for Best Drama Actor. Our current predicted nominees for this category are Gary Oldman (“Slow Horses”), Dominic West (“The Crown”), Hiroyuki Sanada (“Shōgun”), Donald Glover (“Mr. and Mrs. Smith”), Colin Farrell (“Sugar”), and Cosmo Jarvis (“Shōgun”). However, Goggins is right on the precipice of breaking into this lineup and there are several reasons why he could do so.
First of all, “Fallout” is sure to do well at this year’s Emmys. It will pick up a number of technical and design nominations at the Creative Arts Emmys while we predict that it will earn a Best Drama Series bid. Goggins is the standout of the show and if voters embrace “Fallout” like we think they will, Goggins could be taken along for the ride as the show’s standout representative. This has happened several times before, for example when Regé-Jean Page (“Bridgerton”), Jonathan Majors (“Lovecraft Country”), and Jeff Daniels (“The Newsroom”) received citations for their respective shows.
Plus, the role itself will appeal to Emmy voters. It is charismatic, scenery-chewing stuff and voters flock to these types of performances. Brian Cox (“Succession”), Billy Porter (“Pose”), Daniels (“The Newsroom”), Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”), and Kevin Spacey (“House of Cards”) were all nominated for similar roles.
Genre shows (be it sci-fi, horror, fantasy etc) have also done increasingly well in this acting category of late, with the likes of Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”), Majors (“Lovecraft Country”), Kit Harington (“Game of Thrones”), Jeffrey Wright (“Westworld”), Ed Harris (“Westworld”), and Anthony Hopkins (“Westworld”) all reaping bids. Goggins, in this post-apocalyptic sci-fi show, could join that list.
Goggins also has some awards stock already for this role. He is nominated at this year’s Gotham TV Awards for Best Drama Actor. That could be a telling Emmys tea leaf for the actor, who is looking to double his amount of Emmy nominations.
He was previously nominated for Best Drama Supporting Actor for “Justified” in 2011. That is somehow his sole Emmy bid, despite being one of the most prolific actors of his generation. As Baldwin noted above, he gave three awards-worthy performances last year alone with “I’m a Virgo,” “Justified: City Primeval,” and “The Righteous Gemstones.” But, still, he only has one Emmy nomination.
This is the time for Emmy voters to put this right and finally shine the spotlight directly onto Goggins, the same they did with Pascal last year with “The Last of Us.” Goggins is the standout in “Fallout” and it’s time Emmy voters embraced him as much as his fans do.
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