Fallout: parents' guide
Best for ages 17 and up. Rated TV-MA.
A darkly funny but extremely violent post-apocalyptic adventure based on the video games, for adults and mature older teens only. A sheltered young woman leaves her underground vault to find her kidnapped father in a nuclear wasteland. Expect constant gore, cannibalism, the corpses of children, a sex scene with partial nudity, topless ritual nudity, frequent f-words, and a gunslinger who needs drugs to stay alive. One scene suggests a sexual violation. Season 2 adds a crucifixion and the heroine's own drug dependency. Age 17 reflects the gore, nudity and language.
What's in it
Violence
StrongFrequent, graphic gore: people shot in the head, cut in half by a vault door, stabbed in the eye, eaten by a cannibal and killed by exploding brain implants. The remains of whole families, children among them, are found, and one scene suggests a character is sexually violated.
Language
StrongFrequent strong profanity: Plugged In counted about 50 f-words in the second episode alone, plus s-words, goddammit, ass and bitch, crude sexual talk and a middle finger.
Sex and nudity
StrongThe heroine has sex with her new husband, with his bare backside shown; a soldier masturbates under his blanket; a ritual shows women's bare breasts, and naked pregnant women appear. Jokes about cousins pairing off and about sperm counts.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
StrongA bounty hunter needs vials of chems to avoid turning feral and trades the heroine to get more; in season 2 she becomes dependent on drugs herself. Characters drink hard liquor, and child trainees share a cigarette.
Scary or intense scenes
StrongFeral ghouls, giant mutant creatures, organ harvesters, a parent turned feral and killed by her own child, a crucifixion, and a city wiped out by a nuclear blast. Bleak, disturbing images run through both seasons.
Sensitive topics
- Sexual assault
- Suicide
- Death of a parent
- Death of a child
- Animal death
- Addiction
Worth talking about
Lucy starts out trusting her vault's rules about being good and fair, then learns the adults who taught her lied. How do you hold on to your values when the people who taught them fall short?
On our lists
Similar picks around 17+
Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, Wikipedia, movieguide.org, ageratingjuju.com. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.