How ‘Fallout’ Made 120-Pound Power Armor Look Effortless

The Emmy-nominated stunt work that drops audiences’ jaws in Fallout‘s second season only represents a fraction of the energy and skill involved. Like a duck on water, under the surface is a coordinated frenzy of precision: The duck, in this case, is a 120-pound robot suit, and the paddling feet are stunt performers Jeremy Fitzgerald and Tim Soergel.

The pair are nominated for best stunt performance for their work on “The Profligate,” the third episode of the second season of Prime Video’s hit video game-inspired post- apocalyptic drama series. A fight between the Power Armor-clad Maximus and Xander and a Securitron security robot is the crown jewel of the nods.

“It’s hard to bring people into the suit and see what I’m going through,” muses Fitzgerald, who doubles as Maximus. “It’s about surviving and takes 300 percent extra [effort] to make it look good.”

Even wearing an unwieldy suit, accuracy is everything, not just for safety, but so that the shot is exactly right. The action-packed scene culminates with the Securitron being punched in a screen on its chest. “I’m moving at a decent speed with 12-inch blocks on my feet, so I’m effectively on stilts,” Fitzgerald explains. “I was running through all the office furniture blowing apart, and I had to make sure I didn’t fall,” he continues, adding that the suits are so heavy that it takes six people to get him up should he tumble. “Running in the suit is hard enough, but landing that punch perfectly in the screen when I couldn’t see anything less than 15 feet away from me was tough.” After another fight sequence in season two — a scrap with a reptilian Deathclaw — Fitzgerald was out for three days because “it was so taxing” on his body.

Neither Fitzgerald nor Soergel worked on Fallout‘s first season, so they saw joining the team as an opportunity to make the suits, created by Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning FX studio Legacy Effects, their own and to push boundaries.

“It was a learning process,” says Soergel, who doubles as Xander. “It was about what looks cool and what doesn’t. Someone told us we wouldn’t be able to get our arms over our heads.” Unwilling to accept that limitation, Soergel discovered that if he used the momentum of the arm’s swing, he could do it, adding, “I used that to my advantage and did some over-the-top celebratory air-pumping when I knocked other guys out.” The pair quickly found they would feed off each other, giving them even more freedom to raise the bar.

While still grueling, the performers, both receiving their first Emmy nods, are lucky to be able to rely on castmembers to take short breaks by helping remove their Power Armor helmets. Legacy Effects also made modifications to the suits for season two that allowed the stunt performers to literally take a load off between takes.

“They built an endoskeleton we can put on under the suit for when we’re standing for long periods of time. It takes the weight off our shoulders and transfers it to the hips,” Soergel shares. “They also built this giant chair that has arms with shivs on that hook to the suit when we sit. It’s about 4½ feet tall. It’s how we get through a 13-hour day.”

Fitzgerald adds, “They’ve also given us a cooling suit, which allows us to perform a lot better, and means we can stay in the suit longer and achieve more in a day.”

This story first appeared in an August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.