- - How Walton Goggins went nuclear after 'Fallout' sex symbol The Ghoul

Bryan Alexander, USA TODAYDecember 19, 2025 at 5:01 AM

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Walton Goggins' justified vault to superstar started with his role as The Ghoul in "Fallout."

The veteran actor's power to put the snarl and the soul into the nuclear war-surviving bounty hunter for the 2024 hit Prime Video series, based on the popular video game, earned Goggins' second career Emmy nomination and surprise sex symbol status.

The role set off a career chain reaction that culminated in a 2025 Goggins explosion — his Emmy-nominated Rick Hatchett role in HBO's "The White Lotus," his flamboyant final bow as Uncle "Baby" Billy Freeman in "The Righteous Gemstones," his first time hosting “SNL,” and his ubiquitous, lucrative Walmart TV campaigns.

It's not lost on Goggins, 54, that the Season 2 "Fallout" return (first episode streaming, with weekly installments starting Dec. 24) crowns the memorable year.

Just say 'okey dokey!' To 'Fallout' Season 2 – Review

Walton Goggins (The Ghoul) in "Fallout" Season 1.

"We all have these moments in our lives where you can mark it as a before and after something happened. And this next iteration started with 'Fallout,' " Goggins tells USA TODAY. "It feels symmetrical. This Season 2 feels like a real bookend to this life chapter."

Why the 'Fallout' over The Ghoul was so strong

Goggins plays two "Fallout" roles — classic Old Hollywood star Cooper Howard in luscious pre-dystopia flashbacks, and Cooper's nuclear fallout-ravaged Ghoul 200 years later. The disfigured loner is the classic Western wasteland anti-hero who, through Goggins' haunted eyes, became TV's most unlikely sex symbol. Goggins gambled by insisting on using his own eyes through the "claustrophobic" prosthetics.

"They wanted me to wear contacts at first, but I fought back. We take for granted how much we focus on a person's eyes to receive information," he says. "The eyes are the windows to the soul."

Walton Goggins as The Ghoul in "Fallout": Western classic character with soul provided by Goggins' eyes.Goggins had 'nothing in the tank' after 'White Lotus'

The Goggins 2025 imperial period was also the result of a two-year endurance-testing work schedule. After an emotionally draining five-month "White Lotus" Thailand shoot in Aug. 2024, the exhausted actor paused before re-entering the "Righteous Gemstones" final season underway in South Carolina. He even called creator, co-star, and longtime collaborator Danny McBride — Jesse Gemstone in the TV evangelist dark comedy — with biblical doubts.

"I thought I had nothing in the tank," says Goggins. " 'The White Lotus' was such an intense emotional, physical, and spiritual experience that I told Danny, 'Man, I don't know if I have it.' He told me, 'You'll find it. I'm not worried.' "

Goggins flew from Thailand to Charleston, went straight into wardrobe fittings, and was a pallid version of his exuberant preacher character on the set the next day.

"I didn't know what I was doing. I forgot who I was playing," says Goggins, who admits to blowing "like five" first takes. It was enough to draw concerned looks from director McBride.

"But then I said, 'I've got it.' I exhaled. And I was back on track," says Goggins.

After the March 2025 "Righteous Gemstones" Season 4 premiere, HBO's Sunday night lineup, featuring the viral hit "White Lotus," featured a double dose of Goggins.

"I've never had it line up like that; it was even on the same network," says Goggins.

Walton Goggins as Cooper Howard in "Fallout" Season 2.What happens to Goggins in Season 2 of 'Fallout'?

With Goggins still riding high, Season 2 of "Fallout" will feature a deeper dive into The Ghoul's tragic Hollywood backstory.

"The thing I'm most excited about is people really get to meet Cooper Howard," says Goggins of his "Fallout" alter personality. "In this next chapter, you spend a lot of time with him."

Cooper learns about his wife Barb (Frances Turner) and her work with the sinister Vault-Tec, the group secretly spurring on global nuclear destruction for nefarious reasons. Even 200 years later, The Ghoul is obsessed with finding his wife and his daughter, Janey Howard (Teagan Meredith), convinced they are still alive.

"Fallout" make-up chief Jake Garber has streamlined The Ghoul's make-up process, which used to take two-and-a-half hours.

"We've set up a real routine," says Goggins, who bides his time watching a mood-appropriate movie — i.e., no weepies.

"One morning I watched 'Kramer vs. Kramer,' and I started crying," says Goggins. "I was like 'Oh no. I can't do this. It's really going to mess with the prosthetic. So, I can't do sad."

Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) and The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) travel across the desert in "Fallout" Season 2.

In Season 2, The Ghoul does move to something resembling emotion with perky fellow-traveller and former vault-dweller Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell), who is searching for her disgraced father Hank (Kyle MacLachlan). The disparate duo embark on an "apocalyptic road trip" across the Mojave Desert, says Goggins.

"This is one of the oddest pairings I've ever had in my career," he says. "Eventually, along the way, The Ghoul asks Lucy a question about herself. This is all new territory for him. Something is happening with The Ghoul, who resists becoming human on any level."

Goggins is not taking his foot off the gas in his career. After promoting "Fallout" around the world, he's getting right back to work until Season 3 starts filming.

"I had to carve out this chunk of time for promotion, but I go right back to work on one movie, and do a couple more movies next year before coming back to this show," Goggins says. "So that's what I'm doing."

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Fallout' Ghoul propelled Walton Goggins to superstar-making 2025

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