‘Fallout’ Star Xelia Mendes-Jones Breaks Down Dane’s Backstory

When it was announced that Prime Video would be bringing the nuclear wasteland of the Fallout game series to audiences, there were undoubtedly those who worried about what would happen to their favorite characters, and whether new characters would fit into the flow of the beloved world. Luckily, the show’s creators, Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner, understood the fine line they’d be walking and did more than right by fans, with Fallout nabbing the bragging rights of the streamer’s biggest US debut of all time.

During a chat with Perri Nemiroff for Collider Forces, Fallout star Xelia Mendes-Jones, who appears as Dane, broke down how he filled in his character’s backstory and painted a picture of where they came from and where they were headed:

“The way Geneva and Graham and Jonah work, it’s all very secretive, so we never really know where we’re going or where we’ve come from until we know. With Dane, I think my work really was to kind of focus on their belief and

why the Brotherhood

. Why not some other faction? I knew that Dane had come to the Brotherhood at some point – Geneva and Graham had told me that much – so
I knew they weren’t born into the Brotherhood
.”

A Childlike Sense of Wonder

Mendes-Jones says that he wanted to approach the character as having a “wide-eyedness” and wonder about all they were learning with the Brotherhood.

“I think for me, the work I did was to kind of, wide-eyed, ‘Look at all of this. I get all these brothers and siblings and sisters to hang around with. I’m not the only kid. There’s all this cool tech. I get taught stuff.’ I feel like Dane’s
the kind of kid
that really values school
, like a bit of a swot, and enjoyed getting to go to lessons and be taught about toaster ovens, and really was taking diligent notes and doing their homework and learning it all. And I think that wide-eyedness, for me, the thing I was very cautious of was making it not this naivety. They’re wide-eyed. They’re taking it all in. And I think you see that in the hospital scene with Maximus, where they’re a happy-go-lucky kind of guy. They’re pretty open, like heart-on-the-sleeve, but
you see there that there are more cogs turning
, and they’ve been watching a lot more than you think and taking in a lot more than you think.”

All eight episodes of Fallout Season 1 are now streaming on Prime Video. Check out the full interview below:

Fallout

Sci-Fi

Action

Adventure

Drama

In a future, post-apocalyptic Los Angeles brought about by nuclear decimation, citizens must live in underground bunkers to protect themselves from radiation, mutants and bandits.

Release Date

April 11, 2024

Cast

Moises Arias , Johnny Pemberton , Walton Goggins , Kyle MacLachlan

Main Genre

Sci-Fi

Seasons

1

Creator(s)

Graham Wagner , Geneva Robertson-Dworet

Producer

Lisa Joy, Jonathan Nolan

Streaming Service(s)

Prime Video

Watch On Prime Video