Sorry, but Fallout and Arcane’s Ella Purnell wants to stay away from more video game adaptations, and she’s right to do so
If you were starting to think that Ella Purnell was set to become some sort of gaming icon, you’ll be devastated to hear she ain’t really into video games and would like to stop landing video game roles after Fallout and Arcane.
Via Popverse, we’ve learned that, while speaking at MCM x EGX 2024, she briefly discussed how lucky she was to have landed the roles of Lucy and Jinx in the two hit shows, but also expressed her disinterest in venturing further into the world of video game adaptations.
“Here’s the truth, and I feel guilty saying this, but I’m not a gamer, and I don’t know how I’ve managed to land two video game adaptations that have both been good. I don’t know how that’s happened, but it has. I don’t know the answer,” she explained. This goes against previous assumptions she was a bit of a casual gamer after expressing interest in Fallout games and lore beyond the scripts she was given for season one of the series.
I mean, she’s not wrong. While video game adaptations, both animated and live-action, have certainly gone up in quality overall in recent years, we still get plenty of stinkers, such as the utterly dreadful Borderlands flick that finally came out this summer. With Hollywood now doubling down on video games as the next big thing in popular material to mine for gold, we’ve got to remember that doesn’t automatically mean that most adaptations will suddenly be good. In fact, we’re still shocked by how great Fallout season one was.
Another problem for actors with getting too comfortable doing a lot of work inside a single space is that, most of the time, they start being typecast, and when that well inevitably dries up, their careers take a hit. Purnell is well aware of that and wants to avoid it if possible: “I actually think I need to stay away from video game adaptations now, because I’m going to get typecast. I’m going to be the video game girl. There are worse things to be than that, I suppose.” With huge TV shows like Yellowjackets and Sweetpea showing she’s got plenty to offer outside some of gaming’s most famous universes, that seems like the right move.
Mind you, this doesn’t mean Purnell is done with video game adaptations; Jinx could still be alive after Arcane season 2’s events and show up in future League of Legends shows, and Prime Video’s Fallout (now shooting its second season) will probably go on for a few more years. Just don’t expect her to grab more all-new projects like those. I’m fairly sure no other actor can say they’ve starred in fantastic video game adaptations.