“Fallout” Star Walton Goggins Says People Usually Recognize Him As 'That Guy' — but 'Sexy' Ghoul Character Will Change That (Exclusive)
Walton Goggins may be the king of prestige TV, starring in shows like 'The Shield', 'Justified' and 'The Righteous Gemstones', but his new role in Fallout is poised to make him a household name
Sela Shiloni
Fallout star Walton GogginsGiven the delightfully unusual name — plus, a 34-year career that includes shows like The Shield, Justified and The Righteous Gemstones — you’d think everyone would already know who Walton Goggins is.
“I get stopped on the street a lot, but it’s always, ‘Hey, you’re that guy!’ ” he says with a laugh, adding that his fans span generations. “I have the 30-year-olds that know me from Major League: Back to the Minors or Shanghai Noon, but even if they recognize me, they still get my name wrong. It’s usually ‘I love your work, Walter Scriggins!’”
That’s certainly about to change. Goggins, 52, is starring in Prime Video’s post-apocalyptic drama series Fallout, premiering April 12, based on the popular video game.
Related: 'Justified' Revival Series Halts Filming After a Shooting Occurs Near Set: Report
Goggins plays a noseless bounty hunter named Ghoul, and to achieve the character’s “sexy ghoul look,” he endured two hours in the makeup chair each day.
“It was uncomfortable,” he admits of the prosthetics. “It was so hot in New York, where we filmed. Sweat would be coming out of my eyes!”
Courtesy of Prime Video
Walton Goggins says they tried to achieve a "sexy ghoul" look for his character The GhoulNext, the father of one stars in the third season of HBO’s acclaimed drama The White Lotus, though he can reveal nothing about his character. “It’s currently filming in Thailand,” he says. “That’s all I can say!”
Fallout season 2 may be next, and while Goggins is busier than ever, he’s here for it. “I’ve been working with so many amazing people,” he says. “It’s exciting times.” Fallout was directed by Jonathan Nolan, and Goggins says the experience was unlike anything he'd ever shot.
"It was exhilarating. It was exhausting. It was a monumental undertaking," he continues. "Jonah [Nolan] visually captured this world in a way that feels extremely tactile. I mean, we used green screens for sure. We didn't blow up Los Angeles, but not many. All of that stuff with us walking through the desert, all of that was shot in Namibia. And that's why I think this has such a different feel from other shows. I knew it was going to be hard, but I knew it was going to be a real journey and a real-life, big, big life experience. And that's exactly what it turned out to be."
Goggins says he knew from a young age that acting could be a prospective career. “I grew up in a tiny house with my mom in Georgia, raised mostly by women: her sisters, my grandmother, her friends,” he says of his unconventional upbringing. “My mom had a job with the state but was extremely esoteric in her thinking, and her friends were amazing. Everyone was poor and hippies and living these strange lives.”
He recalls some of his favorite babysitters, saying, “They’d play hide-and-seek with me, but they called it ‘Hide and Freak Out.’ They’d say, ‘Walton, we’re going to drop acid and try to find you, and when we do, you freak out on us.’ ”
“My childhood was great. It was so colorful,” he adds.
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When he was 6, Goggins saw his aunt and uncle perform in regional theater and was blown away. “They were on this stage, just pretending to be other people,” he says. “And they got applause! I thought, ‘Wow, they were just playing pretend and somehow moved these people.’ So acting was always in the back of my head as something I could see myself doing.”
At 13, he decided to lean in. “I found out the name of the person who cast all the movies in Atlanta and asked my mom to drive me there without an appointment. Eventually, the person was like, ‘F---, this kid isn’t going anywhere,’ so she met me. Long story short, she ended up being my mentor,” he explains.
After two years at Georgia Southern University, Goggins moved to Los Angeles to act full-time. “This was 1991, no cell phones, but I got a couple of meetings, signed with a small agency and pretty much began working,” he says. The roles were small to start—bit parts on Beverly Hills 90210 and JAG—but grew to include films like Django Unchained, Lincoln and The Hateful Eight.
Related: 'The White Lotus' Season 3: Everything to Know
And while he still can’t believe he gets to do this for a living, he says he’s also thrilled when a job wraps so he can travel.
“As soon I’m done, I’m like, ‘Let’s hit the road, man!’ ” he says of globe-trotting with his wife, director and screenwriter Nadia Conners, and their son Mark, 13. “I don’t know how to be still.”
These days, he says, getting to combine acting with travel is the best of both worlds. “If you’ve been in the business as long as I have, chances are you’ll already be friends with someone on your next project,” he says.
“To be in some exotic location with good people, having precious conversations about family and life? I wake up daily with gratitude," he concludes. "There’s not a single experience I’ve had where I am not acutely aware of how fortunate I am and really how special this is.”
Season 2 of Fallout is now streaming on Prime Video.
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