The Best Part of Fallout is Walton Goggins’ Hot Ghoul Summer
Fallout's own Ghoul, Walton Goggins, is making the best of being an unlikely sex symbol.
Whether you’re intimately familiar with the Fallout franchise or are experiencing it for the first time through the Prime Video series, few could have predicted just how much of a lasting impact Walton Goggins’ character, Cooper Howard a.k.a. The Ghoul, would have on the fandom. Not only do many fans agree that the role was brought to life in the way that only Walton Goggins can, but there are a growing number who find this noseless, irradiated mutant to be surprisingly hot.
In a recent interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Goggins said that the outpouring of both love and thirst toward his character was “surprising.” He didn’t expect him to have such an impact on people, but attributes a lot of it to both “swagger” and the fact that even through prosthetics, a lot of Cooper’s humanity still shines through. Goggins said that the team worked to make sure that his face could work as “a roadmap” to Cooper’s experiences in the wasteland and everything he went through before.
But even though Goggins has been surprised by how much fans love the Ghoul, it does seem like the nature of his appeal was at least a little intentional. According to Goggins, they made the Ghoul “kinda sexy” on purpose. Series producer Jonathan Nolan has added that they were going for “weirdly hot” in the show’s portrayal of the character, and fans have been eating it up.
The Ghoulcy ship (Hot Ghoul + Lucy MacLean), has become increasingly popular since the show’s premiere. The unexpected pairing already has over 550 entries on the popular fanfic site AO3 and a growing number of fancams and fanart circulating the web.
Fans can’t help but draw comparisons between his journey and Lucy’s. They both have their worldview shattered when they learn of the terrible, world-ending things their loved ones are capable of, and have to learn how to live with that. Cooper’s had a couple of centuries to process this, but Lucy’s discovery is still fresh, which means they have a lot of perspective to offer each other in their journey forward together.
But fans aren’t the only ones celebrating a “Hot Ghoul Summer.” Prime Video themselves are even getting in on the phenomenon, sending out PR material emblazoned with the phrase.
We already knew that Walton Goggins was hot, but even I have found myself saying “hear me out” about his role as the Ghoul. If anyone is going to make a noseless, irradiated, over 200-year-old man attractive, it’s going to be him. The praise that Walton Goggins is receiving for this role is well-deserved, and I for one hope that “Hot Ghoul Summer” continues well into the next season of Fallout.
Written by
Brynna Arens (she/her) is a freelance writer who studies movies, TV, and pop culture through an intersectional feminist lens. She'll watch almost anything tbh, but it's…