This Brutal ‘90s Thriller Prepared Kyle MacLachlan For Fallout (& It’s Not Twin Peaks)

Spoilers are ahead for Fallout season 1.

Summary Like in Fallout, Kyle MacLachlan's character in The Trigger Effect faces the chaos of an apocalyptic scenario.

Both projects explore humanity's brutal efforts to survive when pushed to their limits in a post-apocalyptic world.

Hank MacLean's choices in Fallout serve as a reflection of what individuals are willing to do for self-preservation.

While Twin Peaks: The Return might have prepared Kyle MacLachlan for his duplicitous Fallout character, another one of the actor's projects actually has more in common with Amazon Prime Video's post-apocalyptic drama. Known for playing the plucky-yet-skilled Special Agent Dale Cooper in David Lynch's Twin Peaks franchise, MacLachlan is no stranger to turning Americana on its head. Like Twin Peaks, Fallout hides a darkness beneath its wholesome facade. No character exemplifies this more than MacLachlan's Hank MacLean, the Overseer of Vault 33 — and Lucy (Ella Purnell) and Norm's (Moisés Arias) father.

Hank was responsible for the destruction of Shady Sands...

A seemingly upstanding denizen of Vault 33, Hank is revealed to be something of an antagonist. Originally from Vault 31, Hank was part of Vault-Tec's executive assistant program back in 2077. Before the bombs dropped, Vault-Tec devotees like Hank were cryogenically frozen in Vault 31. Vaults 32 and 33, meanwhile, were positioned as breeding pools for Vault-Tec's hand-selected few. To make matters worse, Hank was responsible for the destruction of Shady Sands, a surface community in Fallout's Wasteland that gave rise to Lee Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury) and the New California Republic (NCR).

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Kyle MacLachlan’s The Trigger Effect Chronicles The Paranoia Of A Blackout

Like Fallout, The 1996 Thriller Sets Up An End Of The World Premise

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Decades before joining the world of Fallout, Kyle MacLachlan starred in The Trigger Effect, a 1996 action-thriller flick by writer-director David Koepp (Stir of Echoes, Jurassic Park). Featuring Elisabeth Shue and Dermot Mulroney, The Trigger Effect centers on a young married couple, Matthew (MacLachlan) and Annie (Shue), whose infant daughter falls ill just before a massive power outage. Unable to acquire the medicine his daughter needs, Matthew ends up stealing from the local pharmacist. Shortly after, Annie and Matthew convince their friend, Joe, to buy a shotgun and stay with them during the blackout.

The Trigger Effect illustrates how humans react when backed into a (seemingly) apocalyptic corner.

After several days, the blackout shows no signs of ending, pushing Joe, Annie, and Matthew to drive toward Annie's family home. Short on gas and unable to trust anyone else, the trio encounters all sorts of life-threatening scenarios on the road. Even though the power outage spans just a few days, The Trigger Effect chronicles the chaos that erupts as Southern California society — rather quickly — collapses into a downward spiral. Inspired by The Twilight Zone episode "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street," The Trigger Effect illustrates how humans react when backed into a (seemingly) apocalyptic corner.

Related Fallout Cast & Character Guide The wasteland of Fallout is a huge world, and there's an equally huge cast of unique characters to fill it and give it an offbeat charm.

The Trigger Effect & Fallout Both Explore Humanity’s Brutal Efforts To Survive

Kyle MacLachlan's Characters Put Their Own Survival First

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In Fallout season 1's ending, it's clear that Hank MacLean made choices out of self-preservation. Although the fallout of said choices is awful — his decision to attack Shady Sands seemingly leads to the ghoulification of his kids' mother — it's easy to follow Hank's thought process. The Fallout franchise constantly interrogates these moral gray areas, illustrating what humans who are pushed to the brink will do to survive. Similarly, The Trigger Effect taps into this post-apocalyptic brutality. Although the film's timeline is much more condensed, it captures just how quickly people fall into tribalistic, self-protecting behaviors.

All 8 episodes of Fallout season 1 are now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, while The Trigger Effect is available to purchase from various streaming platforms.