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Who is Ella Purnell: Where have you seen the star of Amazon's Fallout series before?

She's no stranger to the video game adapations.

Ella Purnell as Lucy in Fallout Trailer
Image credit: Amazon Prime Video

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The journey into the Wastelands is always a perilous one, so you should always know who you’re traveling with. Amazon’s Fallout series sends Vault Dweller Lucy out into the world to deal with bandits, mutants, and deathclaws, but who is the woman bringing Lucy to life? Here are some of the places you might have seen Ella Purnell before.

What was Ella Purnell in before Fallout?

One of the early roles that fans might have seen Ella Purnell before was as the younger version of Angelina Jolie in 2014’s Maleficent. However, one of her most recognizable film roles was Emma Bloom in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, directed by Tim Burton. Since then she has gone on to star as Kate in Netflix’s Army of the Dead in 2021.

Television is where Purnell has had her breakthrough success. She played Tess in Sweetbitter on Starz and Jackie on Showtime’s Yellowjackets. Interestingly, Fallout isn’t even the first video game adaptation that she has starred in – she voiced Jinx in Arcane, based on the League of Legends series. Star Trek fans will also recognize Ella Purnell after she played Gwyn in Star Trek: Prodigy.

Who does Ella Purnell play in Fallout?

Ella Purnell is playing one of three main roles in the Fallout TV series from Amazon. Lucy is a young Vault Dweller who sets out into the Wasteland that once was Los Angeles. She’s described as a bit naïve and idealistic, likely due to the fact she has lived her whole life underground, safe from the horrors of the Wasteland above. How Lucy adapts to the harsh reality that awaits her in the outside world will determine her prospects for survival.


Get ready to get out of your Vault and into the Fallout world - with our help, of course. Here is a guide to the Fallout timeline, how to play and watch all of Fallout, details on the Fallout cast, how the Fallout cast & crew really get the harsh humor we're looking for, as well as a Q&A with Fallout showrunners Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner.