‘Fallout’s Success Makes This Sci-Fi Franchise Impossible To Ignore

1 week ago 16

Lorenzo Sisti / Prime © Amazon Content Services LLC

Published Oct 16, 2026, 5:42 PM EDT

Jeffrey is a freelance features writer at Collider. He is an MPA-accredited entertainment journalist and a Tomatometer-approved critic based in the LA area. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science in Radio, TV, & Film and a Bachelor of Arts in Theater.

Video games are experiencing a bit of a moment right now. Multiple iconic franchises have received successful television adaptations, including Twisted Metal, Fallout, Devil May Cry, and The Last of Us. Others, like God of War and Mass Effect, are actively in production. While there have been some misfires, like Paramount+'s Halo television show, these examples prove that Hollywood is ready and willing to spend huge amounts of money to adapt popular video game IP to the screen. However, one massive franchise still needs a live-action television show that could give it the Fallout treatment after two disappointing movies, and it's one of the most iconic FPS series in video game history.

What Is 'DOOM' About?

First published in 1993 by id Software, the original Doom revolutionized 3D graphics and first-person shooter gaming, and many titles that followed attempted to imitate or model themselves on Doom's classic design elements. The game's unnamed protagonist, originally nicknamed "Doomguy," is the last marine left alive on a military outpost on Mars. Secret government teleportation experiments have unwittingly opened portals to Hell, allowing literal demons to invade Mars, and it’s up to Doomguy to fight them off.

Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky

Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🏜️Paul Atreides

🖖Capt. Kirk

✊Princess Leia

🔦Ellen Ripley

🔥Max Rockatansky

FIND YOUR HERO →

How do you lead when the stakes couldn't be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.

AI absorb everything — every variable, every pattern — and move only when I know the path forward. BI read the room, make the call, and own the consequences. Hesitation costs more than mistakes. CI rally people. A cause needs a voice, and I refuse to let fear be louder than conviction. DI assess the threat, establish what needs doing, and get it done without waiting for permission. EI don't lead. I act. Others can follow or not — I'm already moving.

NEXT QUESTION →

What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.

APrescience — the ability to see further ahead than anyone else and plan accordingly. BImprovisation — I'm at my best when the plan falls apart and I have to invent a new one. CConviction — I know what I'm fighting for, and that certainty doesn't waver under fire. DComposure — I stay functional when everyone around me is falling apart. Panic is a luxury. EEndurance — I outlast things. I take the hit and keep moving long after others have stopped.

NEXT QUESTION →

What is the thing you'd sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.

AThe survival and dignity of my people — even if I have to become something frightening to ensure it. BThe safety of my crew — every single one of them. No one gets left behind. CFreedom — for my people, for every world still crushed under the weight of an empire. DThe truth — what actually happened, what's actually out there, whether anyone believes me or not. EThe one person — or the one memory — that still makes any of this worth surviving for.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.

AWith intensity and distance — I care deeply, but the weight I carry makes closeness complicated. BWith warmth and irreverence — I take the mission seriously, not myself. CWith directness and trust — I say what I mean, and I expect the people I work with to rise to it. DWith professional care but clear limits — I'll protect you, but I won't pretend we're family. EWith wariness that slowly becomes loyalty — I don't trust easily, but when I do, it holds.

NEXT QUESTION →

You're facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you're the only one who sees it defines everything.

APrepare in silence. If they won't listen, I'll be ready when they finally have to. BKeep pushing until someone listens — and if no one does, handle it myself. CBuild the case, find the allies, and make the threat impossible to ignore. DDocument everything. The truth matters even if no one believes it yet. EStop trying to convince anyone. Survive it. That's the only argument that counts.

NEXT QUESTION →

What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they'd pay it again.

AMy innocence — I've seen what I'm capable of, and I can't unsee it. BPeople I loved — the command chair has a view, but it's a lonely one. CA normal life — I gave up everything ordinary the moment I chose the cause. DMy sense of safety — I know exactly what's out there now, and I can't pretend otherwise. EAlmost everything — and I'm still not sure what I'm carrying it all for. But I keep going.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you feel about the rules of the world you're in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What's yours?

AI understand them deeply — and I know exactly which ones must be broken, and why. BI respect the spirit of them and bend the letter when the situation demands it. CThe system is the problem. I'm not here to work within it — I'm here to dismantle it. DI follow protocol until protocol stops being useful. Then I make the call myself. EThe rules collapsed a long time ago. What's left is instinct, and mine are reliable.

NEXT QUESTION →

When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.

ADestiny — or something that feels so much like it that the difference no longer matters. BThe people on my ship — their faces, their trust, the fact that they're counting on me. CThe belief that what we're fighting for is worth every sacrifice, including this one. DSheer refusal to let it win — whatever it is. I don't stop. That's just who I am. EI'm not sure anymore. But the road is still there, and I'm still on it.

REVEAL MY HERO →

Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…

Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.

Paul Atreides

You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you're capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.

You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn't ask for but can't escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won't, is exactly you.

Captain Kirk

You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you've always believed there's a third option nobody else has thought of yet.

You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you've earned it.
Kirk's genius isn't tactical — it's human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.

Princess Leia

You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you're fearless, but because giving up simply isn't something you're capable of.

You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you've never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.

Ellen Ripley

You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone's hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.

You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley's heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn't have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn't there.
When it counts, you don't flinch. That's everything.

Max Rockatansky

You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.

You don't ask for help, don't need validation, and don't wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it's earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

After multiple sequels and several ups and downs, Doom returned better than ever in 2016 with a revival game titled DOOM. The series reintroduced Doomguy from the original games as an empowered warrior, known as the "Doom Slayer," locked in an epic struggle with his demonic foes for centuries. Across DOOM, its sequel DOOM Eternal, and prequel DOOM: The Dark Ages, the franchise's lore massively expanded, recontextualizing the Doom Slayer and revealing new parts of his backstory.

Under Hugo Martin's direction, the rebooted series also added more worldbuilding and immersive narrative elements that the earlier games lacked, while still pushing the envelope with their action and combat. These updated DOOM games could essentially become the basis for a television adaptation. That means incorporating the expanded backstory elements, particularly how Doomguy transitioned from a working-class human Marine to the prophesied savior known as the Doom Slayer.

A 'DOOM' TV Series Should Take a Page From 'The Mandalorian,' Not 'Halo'

Any potential DOOM TV series needs to take more cues from The Mandalorian than from Halo in its portrayal of the armored warrior. That means the Doom Slayer shouldn't remove his helmet and armor, or show his face in any significant way. Newer DOOM games have also hinted that the Doom Slayer is driven by an unquenchable rage and a tragic past that a series could flesh out in greater detail. Despite those traits, the character's charm comes from his stoicism, and he's an individual of few words. The series should lean into that, just as The Mandalorian successfully did with its titular hero, played by Pedro Pascal.

A potential television series could peel back more of the Doom Slayer's layers, showcasing what made him into a crushing machine — and no, we're not just talking about what happened to his pet rabbit Daisy in the original game. Later installments suggest that Daisy was not the only thing the demons took from the Doom Slayer, and a TV show could finally depict the character's backstory in its entirety.

A 'DOOM' TV Series Could Embrace Several Timely Themes

The Doom Slayer fighting off against legions of demons and the undead in art made for 'Doom' (2016)

On a broader narrative level, the DOOM games offer plenty of rich thematic material for any potential adaptation to tackle. The machinations of parties like Samuel Hayden, the Union Aerospace Corporation, Olivia Pierce, and their irresponsible mining of Argent energy offer an opportunity for broader commentary on greed and the valuing of profit over human life. It also allows for commentary on humanity recklessly meddling with forces beyond their understanding, similar to the way humans meddle with artificial intelligence in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

If the DOOM TV series follows the 2016 reboot game and takes place on Mars, the resulting demon infestation could take a page from James Cameron's Aliens. Of course, the incursion eventually arrives on Earth, as depicted in DOOM Eternal, which could allow a future season to draw inspiration from the post-apocalyptic scenario depicted in T2.

Setting aside the two poorly received movies, DOOM is overdue to receive a live-action television series that could redeem the franchise's past failures. It's a show that's begging to be made, and Microsoft, id Software, and Bethesda should consider pitching the project to streamers looking to acquire another iconic IP.