Summary
On Wednesday, July 17, the76th Primetime Emmy Awardsannounced its nominees and, much to my frustration, Ella Purnell was missing from the list. After starring in the Emmy-nominated thrillerYellowjacketsand Netflix’s acclaimedArcane, Purnell has become one of television’s must-watch, genre-hopping talents. As one of three leads inAmazon Prime Video’sFalloutadaptation, Purnell more than proved her ability to carry a series — averysuccessful series with a near-perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes. All of this to say,I find Ella Purnell’s Emmys snub totally baffling and more than a little disingenuous.
As a video game fan, I can take some comfort in theEmmy Awards nominationsat large. Excitingly,Falloutcontinued aLast of UsEmmys trend, reiterating that the HBO video game adaptation wasn’t an award-winning fluke, but a sign of changing times. WhileFalloutwas nominated for Outstanding Drama Series, Walton Goggins earned a nod for his role as Cooper Howard/The Ghoul. The prevailing mainstream attitudes around video games' narrative worth and artistic merit are finally shifting — and that’s something to celebrate. I just wish Purnell got more credit for her part in it all.
Ella Purnell Gives An Emmy-Worthy Performance In Fallout
The Darkly Funny Post-Apocalyptic Drama Wouldn’t Work Without Lucy MacLean
Based on the post-apocalyptic video game franchise of the same name,Falloutis both brutal and offbeat — and I don’t think any character better captures that melding of tones than Ella Purnell’s Lucy MacLean. Born in an underground Vault-Tec-created bunker, Lucy truly believes that she and her fellow Vault Dwellers will one day return to the surface to “save America.” It’s as delusional as it sounds; theworld ofFalloutis defined by its lawless nuclear Wasteland, which is ruled by ruthless bounty hunters and factions.Lucy, meanwhile, is the human embodiment of a moral compass.
I think Purnell captures that transformation perfectly.
Taking cues from the most chipper ofFallout’s cast of characters, her father Hank MacLean (Kyle MacLachlan), Lucy is optimistic to a fault. The Vault Dweller believes in talking her way out of hairy situations, and using violence — a comparatively impotent dart gun — as a last resort, because it’s her duty to restore order. After supposed raiders abduct Hank from the Vault, Lucy journeys through the harrowing Wasteland to rescue him. Along the way,her happy-go-lucky attitude starts to deteriorate when Lucy realizes she isn’t preparedor clued in. I think Purnell captures that transformation perfectly.
Ella Purnell’s New Show Sounds Like The Complete Opposite Of Her Fallout Role (But In A Good Way)
Refusing to be typecast, Ella Purnell’s Fallout follow-up role sounds completely opposite of Lucy MacLean — in the best possible way for the actor.
Shogun’s Anna Sawai & Mr. & Mrs. Smith’s Maya Erskine Track — But Others Don’t
This year’s Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category just feels a little out of touch to me. Honestly,it’s also outright strange that series likeThe Morning Showseason 3 andThe Gilded Ageseason 2 received Outstanding Drama Series nominations. Neither series is particularly well-reviewed. Despite its ensemble,The Morning Showis incredibly lukewarm, and no amount of season-three stunt-casting changed that fact. Similarly,The Gilded Ageboasts a powerhouse cast, but the slow-burn melodrama has failed to capture viewers' favor, even if the sophomore outing fared slightly better with critics.
Reese Witherspoon
The Morning Show
While I think Carrie Coon (The Leftovers,Gone Girl) always deserves the spotlight,The Gilded Age’s impact on the television landscape doesn’t feel particularly weighty. Similarly, Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon are always a joy to see, but I wouldn’t sayThe Morning Showis either Emmy winners' best outing.Both shows are glossy prestige melodramas that are fun to watch, but not necessarily award-winningprograms. Similarly,The Crown’s ending was its weakest season, wrapping Netflix’s flagship show on a sour note. Unlike Elizabeth Debicki’s haunting performance, Imelda Staunton’s Queen Elizabeth II didn’t quite leave a lasting impression either.
Ella Purnell’s performance, andFallout’s impact, deserved this sort of attention…
On the other hand,I think Anna Sawai and Maya Erskine’s nominations are completely justified. Sawai, who is part ofShōgun’s cast of characters, gave a memorable performance in, arguably, the year’s best drama. Not only was ita success with critics and audiences alike, butShōgunbecame must-watch, water-cooler-chat-worthy television. For a moment, it also felt like everyone was watching the sharp action dramedyMr. & Mrs. Smith, making Erskine’s nomination a must (regardless of the show’s dubious categorization as a drama). That said, Ella Purnell’s performance, andFallout’s impact, deserved this sort of attention.
The Emmys Has A Category Problem (& Its 2024 Winners Prove It)
The winners of the 2024 Emmys have highlighted the biggest problem with separating every TV show on the air into two binary categories.
Ella Purnell’s Lucy MacLean Is Fallout’s Defining Role
More Than Any Character Lucy Exemplifies The Show’s Many Different Tones
While Walton Goggins and Aaron Moten, Purnell’s co-leads inFallout, put forth incredible performances too, it’s hard to imagine the off-kilter adaptation working at all if Purnell didn’t nail the role of Lucy MacLean. The naive and upbeat but also clever and haunted, Lucy is a complicated character when we meet her, butPurnell hides those layers in the character’s offbeat “Okey-dokey” charm. As The Ghoul warns, the brutality of the Wasteland pushes Lucy to change — or at least embrace other parts of herself.
Ella Purnell embodies the sum of Fallout’s many parts…
ByFalloutseason 1’s ending, she’s gone on a genuine arc from can-do helper to survivor. After Lucy learns the truth about her father, the character’s resolve to do what’s right stiffens, but it’s driven not by purpose but obligation. Purnell can deliver incredibly comedic one-liners one moment and be covered in blood the next, but,somehow, she convincingly assures us that all of this is happening to the same Lucy. In masterfully capturing the contrasting tones and layers of the show, Ella Purnell embodies the sum ofFallout’s many parts in an Emmy Award-worthy way.
Falloutseason 1 is streaming on Amazon Prime Video, and the76th Primetime Emmy Awardsair on August 01, 2025.
Fallout
Set 200 years after an apocalypse, Fallout follows residents of luxury shelters as they re-enter a post-nuclear world. Confronted with a bizarre and violent landscape, the series explores the stark contrasts between their sheltered existence and the harsh realities of the outside universe.
