I Find Ella Purnell’s Emmys Snub After Her 94% Rotten Tomatoes Hit Show Totally Baffling


Summary

  • Fallout
    ‘s success at the Emmy Awards indicates a positive shift in mainstream attitudes towards video game adaptations.
  • Ella Purnell’s portrayal of Lucy MacLean in
    Fallout
    showcases her ability to embody contrasting tones and complexities within her character.
  • The Outstanding Lead Actress in A Drama Series category at the Emmys feels somewhat out of touch, overlooking deserving performances like Purnell’s in
    Fallout
    .



On Wednesday, July 17, the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards announced its nominees and, much to my frustration, Ella Purnell was missing from the list. After starring in the Emmy-nominated thriller Yellowjackets and Netflix’s acclaimed Arcane, Purnell has become one of television’s must-watch, genre-hopping talents. As one of three leads in Amazon Prime Video’s Fallout adaptation, Purnell more than proved her ability to carry a series — a very successful 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 the Emmy Awards nominations at large. Excitingly, Fallout continued a Last of Us Emmys trend, reiterating that the HBO video game adaptation wasn’t an award-winning fluke, but a sign of changing times. While Fallout was 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, Fallout is 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; the world of Fallout is 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 of Fallout‘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 prepared or clued in. I think Purnell captures that transformation perfectly.

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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.

The 2024 Emmys Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series Category Feels Off

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 like The Morning Show season 3 and The Gilded Age season 2 received Outstanding Drama Series nominations. Neither series is particularly well-reviewed. Despite its ensemble, The Morning Show is incredibly lukewarm, and no amount of season-three stunt-casting changed that fact. Similarly, The Gilded Age boasts a powerhouse cast, but the slow-burn melodrama has failed to capture viewers’ favor, even if the sophomore outing fared slightly better with critics.


Nominees for Outstanding Lead Actress (Drama)

TV Series

Jennifer Aniston

The Morning Show

Carrie Coon

The Gilded Age

Maya Erskine

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Anna Sawai

Shōgun

Imelda Staunton

The Crown

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 say The Morning Show is either Emmy winners’ best outing. Both shows are glossy prestige melodramas that are fun to watch, but not necessarily award-winning programs. 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, and
Fallout
‘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 of Shōgun‘s cast of characters, gave a memorable performance in, arguably, the year’s best drama. Not only was it a success with critics and audiences alike, but Shōgun became must-watch, water-cooler-chat-worthy television. For a moment, it also felt like everyone was watching the sharp action dramedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith, making Erskine’s nomination a must (regardless of the show’s dubious categorization as a drama). That said, Ella Purnell’s performance, and Fallout‘s impact, deserved this sort of attention.


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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 in Fallout, 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, but Purnell 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…

By Fallout season 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 of Fallout‘s many parts in an Emmy Award-worthy way.

Fallout season 1 is streaming on Amazon Prime Video, and the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards air on September 15, 2024.




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