Fallout’s costume designer explains why The Ghoul looks so hot

polygon.com:

The gray irradiated flesh of ghouls in Falloutserves as a living testament to the horrors of a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by nuclear warfare. It makes sense that ghouls, people and animals who have zombified due to exposure to radiation, have been a fixture of the Fallout series since its inception, all melted flesh and exposed organs. Now, they come to life in Prime Video’s new TV show, Fallout.

While the look of some ghouls resembles chemical burns that could repulse viewers, not every monster is all that, well, ghoulish. When compared to the monstrosities of the games, characters like The Ghoul (played by Walton Goggins) seemed a bit tame. Sure, his nose didn’t survive the nuclear apocalypse, but video edits compiling clips from the show highlighted how weirdly hot he was. According to Fallout associate costume designer Amy Westcott, his look played into his larger story as a character.

“I think the only reason that he was downplayed in terms of being more grotesque was because he still had his wits about him,” Westcott said via Zoom. “When you get to those ghouls that are really, really gross, they were really losing their minds. So I think to keep Walton as a central character — in terms of him being still with us, so to speak — it was imperative to see him at a stage of ghoulness, not all the way gone. You know, he couldn’t be feral.”

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To decide on Goggins’ final look, the team imagined different stages of “ghoulness.” Those that received the proper medications, like Goggins’ character, are still able to talk and conduct themselves as a regular human might, more or less. As we see, his body and overall functions are basically intact. However, other ghouls degenerate into a more stereotypical (and true-to-the-games) zombified state in which they can’t communicate and act more like feral animals.

“There were so many different degrees of ghoulness. There are feral ghouls that have been around for longer, and they’re kind of on their way out,”