As the streaming wars rage on, Apple TV has quietly built the deepest bench of sci-fi shows available on any platform, but Prime Video had the breakaway freshman sci-fi show of 2024: Fallout. The post-apocalyptic series was Prime Video’s successful play at adapting video game source material, as the show is based on the popular Fallout role-playing game franchise.
The cast of Fallout is led by Ella Purnell as the sunny, sheltered Vault-dweller Lucy venturing into the real world for the first time, and Walter Goggins as The Ghoul, a gunslinger whose spirit is dead but whose body can’t die. The show’s distinctive retro-futuristic aesthetic immediately captured audiences, leading to Fallout setting impressive viewership records for Prime Video.
Apple TV often makes fans wait years between seasons, with the three-year gap between seasons 1 and 2 of Severance being the most egregious example. Luckily, Prime Video is capitalizing on the success of Fallout season 1 by releasing season 2 one year later.
Even more excitingly, Fallout season 2 is taking an important lesson from Apple’s many hit sci-fi shows. Prime Video is switching Fallout season 2’s release model from a binge drop to weekly episodes.
Apple TV Is The Reigning King Of Sci-Fi Television
Apple Built A Catalog Of Beautifully Shot Original Sci-Fi Series
Even starting seven years after Netflix started creating original content, Apple TV has become the reigning king of sci-fi television. While other streamers flood their catalogs with licensed content or chase quick-hit binges, Apple has taken the opposite approach: build slowly, spend boldly, and let creators swing for the fences.
Because Apple’s primary revenue doesn’t come from entertainment, the platform’s budgets are the envy of every streamer – and that’s with Apple losing $1 billion on streaming content. Apple TV’s commitment to all original programming is a huge part of what sets it apart. Without a back catalog to lean on, the service had to define itself through bold concepts and ambitious world-building, and it embraced that challenge wholeheartedly.
Severance became an instant sensation with its eerie, high-concept workplace nightmare. Silo delivered tense, character-driven mystery wrapped in a fully realized dystopian world. Foundation took the opposite route, offering galaxy-spanning spectacle and massive production scale. For All Mankind dazzled with meticulous alternate history, while Pluribus from Vince Gilligan signals Apple’s ongoing appetite for creator-led passion projects.
Just as importantly, Apple hasn’t chased Netflix’s binge-release model, even as it builds a library designed to compete head-on with Netflix’s dominance. Instead, Apple sticks to traditional weekly drops, turning its sci-fi shows into true event television. It’s a strategy that extends the life and impact of its biggest hits in a way binge releases rarely can.
Taken together, Apple TV’s creative risks, enormous production budgets, and commitment to weekly-event storytelling have created the deepest, most varied sci-fi ecosystem in streaming. No matter which corner of the genre a viewer loves – intimate and philosophical or explosive and epic – Apple has the crown jewel for that subgenre.
Fallout Season 2 Will Have Weekly Episodes Instead Of A Binge Drop
Why Prime Video Is Going Weekly With Fallout Season 2
Prime Video doesn’t stick to a single release strategy. Some shows arrive as weekly episodes, while others drop an entire season at once. Fallout season 1 opted for a full-season binge, and the gamble paid off. The series immediately became a streaming event, breaking records for Amazon and dominating social media conversation.
That approach made sense for a show based on a beloved video game, even if it’s more of a shared universe, since the series is canon but after the events of the game. Delivering all episodes at once let audiences dive in fully and generated a concentrated burst of attention.
For season 2, Prime Video is taking a different approach. The show’s eight episodes will roll out weekly from December through early February. This strategy isn’t new for the streamer. They’ve used it successfully on shows like The Boys, Reacher, and The Summer I Turned Pretty.
The latter demonstrates how weekly releases can cultivate cultural moments. The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 generated live watch parties in bars, a phenomenon rarely seen outside reality TV with passionate fan bases. Many of the best shows of 2025 were weekly releases, not binge drops.
Weekly releases provide more than just anticipation; they encourage discussion, speculation, and deeper engagement with serialized storytelling. For Fallout, Prime is signaling confidence that the series can sustain week-to-week scrutiny and continue to surprise audiences with mystery and intrigue.
In a digital age where a week can feel like a long time, spacing episodes allows viewers to savor each installment, while online communities dissect, debate, and build momentum between episodes. Prime is betting that Fallout is a show that can dominate conversation across multiple weeks, proving its longevity in the streaming landscape.
Why Sci-Fi Television Shines In A Weekly Format
Audiences Engage More Deeply With Time To Digest & Discuss
Sci-fi TV thrives with weekly episode releases because the genre is built on mystery, worldbuilding, and slow-burn reveals. These elements benefit from giving audiences time to theorize, debate, and absorb the details.
When episodes drop week-to-week, each installment becomes an event, and viewers are encouraged to discuss, speculate, and revisit prior episodes, creating a communal experience that extends beyond the screen. In contrast, binge drops can turn complex narratives into a blur, leaving audiences little time to fully digest complex plots or the implications of character choices.
Apple TV has embraced the weekly model exclusively, and the results speak for themselves. Shows like Silo and Severance remain embedded in cultural conversation months after airing, their imagery, twists, and character arcs lingering in memes, discussions, and think pieces.
By comparison, binged sci-fi series, like Netflix’s 3 Body Problem, generated buzz but faded quickly from collective memory. Viewers struggled to recall character names and plot details, despite the show’s high production values and the pedigree of the involvement of showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
Prime Video’s Fallout illustrates how weekly releases can complement worldbuilding even for established properties. The series is set in the same universe as the video game and is considered canon, though its events occur after the games’ storylines. Season 1 dropped all episodes at once, creating a huge launch event.
Learning from Apple TV’s model, Prime is shifting Fallout season 2 to weekly episodes. By exploring the Mojave Wasteland and introducing video game characters like Robert House, the Brotherhood of Steel, Deathclaws, and possibly Caesar’s Legion from Fallout: New Vegas, Prime ensures suspense is maintained week by week.
This pacing keeps fans engaged, extends cultural conversation, and allows speculation and theorycrafting, much like Apple’s sci-fi hits. Fallout season 2 will prove that serialized storytelling in a weekly format can elevate even a familiar universe.
Release Date
April 10, 2024
Showrunner
Lisa Joy, Jonathan Nolan
Writers
Lisa Joy, Jonathan Nolan
