Prime Video’s adaptation of the award-winning Fallout franchise is… actually good? It’s an inexplicable development, after so many shoddy video game adaptations, and it’s earning the fresh series sky-high reviews.
Studios may just be (finally) cluing into what makes a video game adaptation successful, following years of gut-wrenchingly terrible attempts to bring treasured video games to the big screen. We’re still served up plenty of disappointment through releases like Uncharted, every utterly eye-melting Resident Evil attempt, and lets not even discuss that atrocious Assassin’s Creed movie. But we’re also starting to get some real gems mixed in, between the fresh — and instantly successful — Fallout and 2023’s incredible The Last of Us adaptation.
Fallout is a challenging series to adapt, so the fact its proved so popular is a major win for Prime Video, a studio that’s fumbled the ball on several recent adaptations (looking at you, Rings of Power). A huge part of the series’ early success hinges on the actors bringing the Wasteland’s inhabitants to life, and viewers are quickly catching onto the talented Xelia Mendes-Jones, who plays Dane to utter perfection.
What else is Xelia Mendes-Jones in?
Mendes-Jones isn’t as well-known as some of their Fallout peers, but that’s set to change with their role in the captivating Prime series. They’re quickly becoming a household name for their portrayal of Brotherhood of Steel newbie Dane, and we’ll likely be seeing a lot more of them in the coming years.
Ahead of their foray into the Wasteland, Mendes-Jones was best known for their role in Prime Video’s The Wheel of Time series, which debuted its first season in 2021 and returned in 2023 for a second season. Mendes-Jones plays Renna in the fantasy series — another role they smash out of the park — and viewers can enjoy the stunning costuming and character design that add weight to their excellent performance.
They also enjoyed a cameo in a 2018 episode of Sans Comic, and soon audiences will get the chance to see them in the upcoming Havoc, which they’re starring in alongside Tom Hardy, Timothy Olyphant, and Forest Whitaker. The incoming action thriller teases a gripping story of intruige and deception, as a “bruised detective” is forced to “fight his way through the criminal underworld to rescue a politician’s estranged son, unraveling a deep web of corruption and conspiracy that ensnares his entire city,” according to IMDb.