The creators of Prime Video’s Fallout rely on props and practical effects to make the show’s post-apocalyptic world feel real, which includes some very impressive power armor. The imposing suits date back to before the bombs fell and are the signature weapon of the Brotherhood of Steel. Many of the show’s stars have worn the suits, and Polygon talked to them about the experience ahead of the show’s season 2 premiere on Dec. 17.
Aaron Moten
Role: Brotherhood of Steel knight Maximus
It’s heavy, heavy, heavy. It’s like 50 pounds. Even just the top half that I wear because I get this motorized helmet to open up. But it’s not comfortable. It’s actually extremely difficult. One of the biggest challenges to playing Maximus is getting in and out of the armor. The way that seas of people part on set when you walk through, that’s kind of cool. … It’s kind of an element that we often have illustrated in our show. That sort of sense of status comes with the suit.
Image: Lorenzo Sisti/Prime Video
Kyle MacLachlan
Role: Vault 33 overseer Hank MacLean
The first season, it was fine and the second season, I think they put more weight on it so it got really heavy. Or maybe it’s just because I’m older. It’s the most fun. It’s crazy. They literally bolt you into this thing. No chance to go to the bathroom. But it’s really fun. When you have this thing on you do feel, as you would imagine, pretty powerful. … If I need to itch my nose, I have to ask someone to do it. So it’s a little bit claustrophobic. Not bad. Definitely worth wearing.
Image: Lorenzo Sisti/Prime Video
Walton Goggins
Role: Cooper Howard and The Ghoul
It was the most claustrophobic thing I’ve ever done in my life. The people that put that rig on – Aaron Moten, Johnny Pemberton, and the stunt guys that wear that – I thought they had it easy. I thought I had it hard by wearing these prosthetics. I really thought that, until I put that power armor on. I’m not lying to you when I say I had it on for about 30 minutes and then I had a panic attack. I had to get it off. It’s like, ‘I got to get out of this, please. I got to move my arms, please.’ It’s really a thing. Maybe it’s just a thing for me, but I found it so constricting and so difficult that it was not an enjoyable experience at all.
Image: Prime Video
The Ghoul is a difficult process. It takes two and a half hours to do [the makeup], and then you’re in it for 14 hours a day. But in comparison to the power armor, which is an extraordinary piece of equipment, it’s a piece of cake. It’s just surrendering to what is happening at any moment. The process of becoming The Ghoul and wearing these prosthetics, that is who he is. Without that, there is no Ghoul. I don’t even know how to speak like he does as me right now. I don’t walk that way in real life. I didn’t plan to walk that way. It’s the prosthetics, it’s the hat, it’s the coat, it’s the boots. It’s all of it, isn’t it?
Fallout season 2 premieres on Prime Video on Dec. 17. New episodes release weekly on Wednesdays through Feb. 4, 2026.
