Fallout Season 2 delivered plenty of science fiction-based thrills as well as some legitimate drama and, in the midst of all that, there was plenty of the over-the-top violence fans have come to expect. More than a few characters dealt with some brutal situations, and that was especially true for Walton Goggins’ The Ghoul. It was during the sixth episode that Ghoul’s tolerance for pain was tested while he remained impaled on a pole. Goggins told CinemaBlend exactly how long he was actually on the pole, and this sounds intense.
The end of the second season’s fifth episode, “The Wrangler,” sees Lucy MacLean, feeling betrayed by Ghoul for using her as a bargaining chip, shoot her ex-comrade. With that, the mutated bounty hunter flies out of a hotel window and onto the aforementioned pole. On the experience, Goggins told CB “it was brutal” and that it took “three or four days” of filming just to shoot the material with his character falling from the window. As the seasoned actor explained, the process only became more challenging after that:
I don't know, it was 14 hours on the pole. Two days in a row. And it was just a deeply disturbing, emotional place to be in, to need help and for people to be walking around you, you know, much like a street in a f–king city today…. It can be very, very upsetting. But, over the course of it and the nature of this experience for him, because there are consequences in this world.
Honestly, as a viewer, I found it painful to watch The Ghoul planted on that pole while fighting off the urge to become feral. Up until this point, I honestly had questions in regard to whether the bounty hunter – who was originally actor Cooper Howard – could even die at this point given his physiology. Goggins explains to us, however, that mortality is something that should be considered when it comes to his character:
The Ghoul is not impervious to dying. He is very capable of dying. And we talked ad nauseum about how close he comes to that and that he would have, in fact, died, right? That was [part of] a lot of those conversations with [creatives], [viewers] had to believe that… there is nothing left and he just for the first time says, ‘I'm a human being and I matter…’
Eventually, Ghoul doesn’t bite the bullet, though, as he’s eventually rescued by the Super Mutant (played by Goggins’ old buddy, Ron Perlman). For Goggins himself, though, this sounds like a truly rough point of filming, and I totally understand why. It’s wild to think that going into Season 2, the actor was particularly “scared” by the prospect of having to wear those prosthetics again (which had an impact on his signature southern drawl). It’s said that actors suffer for their art, and that seems to have been the case here.
Don’t be fooled, though, as Walton Goggins is a true professional and seems to know what’s required of him as far as Fallout is concerned. The actor also seemed to really enjoy shooting the second season and even had the chance to pay homage to his favorite movie, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, using one scene in the season premiere. Goggins’ journey as Ghoul isn’t over, either, as a third season has already been greenlit. With that, I’m curious as to what kind of brutal situations both he and his character might experience next.
All episodes of Fallout Season 2 are now available to stream with a Prime Video subscription. Those who are also now in need of something to watch since the season is over can also take a look at the 2026 TV schedule.
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