As the TV adaptation of “Fallout” and Donald Glover and Maya Erskine’s “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” both picked up Emmy nominations in the drama category Wednesday, Amazon MGM Studios head Jennifer Salke and television executive Vernon Sanders are celebrating Amazon’s unprecedented position of having two shows in the running for this year’s top prize.
Salke and Sanders spoke with Variety after the dust settles to break down the 62 overall nominations received by Amazon and MGM Studios — including 17 for “Fallout,” 16 for “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” and a TV movie nomination for the LGBTQ romantic comedy “Red, White & Royal Blue,” among the studio’s other nominations.
After the Emmy buzz surrounding HBO’s “The Last of Us,” did you expect “Fallout” to do similarly, or were you always cautious about the awards response to video game adaptations and genre television?
Vernon Sanders: Credit to producers Jonah (Nolan) and Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Graham Wagner and Todd Howard. And as soon as we started seeing things come together, we knew this was something really special and irreverent and unique. And it’s so different from “The Last of Us” that you don’t know exactly how it’s going to play out. But we knew it was really special and one of the reasons we’re incredibly proud of it is how well it’s been received by fans of the games, and I think it’s a credit to Bethesda (the “Fallout” game studio) and our producers for really making this a love letter to the original. That’s really hard to do, so for the show to get that kind of recognition, from critics and the industry, is just icing on the cake.
Jennifer Salke: It’s really exciting to see genre television recognized in this way and to know how committed we are to the future incarnations of great global shows that are distinguished by their originality, excellence and execution, and that draw on beloved intellectual properties, both from the world of games and books. It’s very encouraging, we love to see these shows and films work on a global scale. And that’s our greatest joy: to attract a global audience and to see them recognized in this way as well.
Will you continue with the same cast for “Fallout” Season 2 or move to an anthology format to explore the many settings in Bethesda/Microsoft’s “Fallout” video game franchise?
Salke: We are engaged in our journey with our beloved characters. Such an awesome season 2 coming soon.
Sanders: We’ve been lucky because that was our vision from the beginning. I think we’re ahead of schedule in terms of being able to launch Season 2. We don’t have an exact launch date yet, but we have the scripts in hand, and I think fans of Season 1 are going to really love the direction we’re taking Season 2.
Salke: I’ve heard the question: Is this an anthology? And there are a lot of doors we can walk through, which is the beauty of intellectual property. But we’re fully engaged and we’re all on this journey with the characters that we met and loved in Season 1.
Do these Emmy nominations for “Fallout” inspire you to do more video game adaptations in the future?
Sanders: I think it’s finding the right balance between a work that feels special and unique in the landscape, a real partnership with the creators of the IP, who know how to translate that, and a visionary voice, both visionary writers and creators. Fortunately for us, we think we’ve found a few things in that space that really justify it. So we’ve already announced “Tomb Raider,” which we’re extremely excited about. And there’s other stuff coming up, I think sooner rather than later you might hear about new stuff, but we’re always going to be careful and judicious. That’s the model, so we don’t want to rush into it and each of those things has to have a reason for being there.
Any news on PlayStation’s ‘God of War’ TV series?
Salke: Stay tuned! We love “God of War.”
How did you react to the multiple nominations for “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”?
Salka:This is another example of a very creator-focused project for us.
Sanders: Donald came in with Francesca (Sloane), his partner in crime from “Atlanta,” and they had a clear vision of wanting this kind of “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” to be a way to examine a relationship.
Salke: And a wedding. Donald talked a lot about his marriage and the reality of being married. So it all felt so character-driven. It wasn’t just “hot couples who are spies or assassins” that you could easily meet. It was much more of a character-driven study of relationships. And the tone is just brilliant. And the script, and (director) Hiro Murai did a wonderful job, and I’m so happy to see him nominated as well, along with the incredible guest cast.
There have been rumors that Donald and Maya may reprise their roles for Season 2. Will they?
Sanders: That’s so funny you asked that!
Salke: This seems to be everyone’s priority!
Sanders: The only thing we can share is that Donald and Maya have laid out their vision for Season 2, and we’re incredibly excited about it. It’s very imaginative. It’s really unpredictable.
Salke: I think it will bring the audience everything they want.
With the nomination for “Red, White and Royal Blue,” where are you with your plans for the sequel to the film? Have you seen the script yet?
Salke: We’re really excited. We’re working on the second film and we can’t wait. The creative side of it is great and we’re very proud of the first film and the nomination. This morning I texted Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Matt Lopez (the producers), and they’re all very proud. And we obviously love the film, so we’re committed to making the sequel and we can’t wait to get it out to the world.
What does this name mean for the future of romantic comedies on Amazon?
Salke: I think it means a lot. If you look at the audience performance of “The Idea of You” for us and Anne Hathaway, and this movie, it’s clear that audiences are really hungry for romantic comedies and really well-made romantic comedies. They’re not looking for the lowest common denominator. And I think we’re very proud of both of those movies because we think that the quality of them stands on their own and that’s what creates the word of mouth and the kind of cultural moment around them. It’s been a really successful strategy for us, so I think you’ll see more of that.
Season 4 of “The Boys” is not eligible this season, but it will be available next year. As you approach the end of that series in Season 5, what are your plans for the franchise as a whole, including Season 2 of “Gen V” and the spinoff set in Mexico that is currently in development?
Sanders: It all comes down to Eric Kripke’s vision and the shared vision that he shares with his incredible producing partners. We gave it our all and he always delivered more than he expected. He even got to see the dailies and footage from Gen V Season 2. Obviously, that team had a real challenge with the unfortunate passing of Chance Perdomo. But I think fans of the entire franchise are going to be blown away by Gen V Season 2. As far as the future goes, it’s really up to Eric. We have a lot of ideas and thoughts, and he has a lot of ideas and thoughts, but we want to make sure that we earn them. So when we announce our next thing, if we announce the next thing, it’s going to be because we really know that we’ve gotten signals from our audience that this is a story that they want to hear told.
Salke: We’re very excited about the series. And Eric, from the very beginning, has had a wealth of creative ideas around the franchise.
Speaking of the future, where are you at with “Citadel” Season 2, and will the Russo brothers continue to be involved, since we just learned they’re in talks to direct two more “Avengers” movies?
Salke: They’re definitely involved in the second season, directing and producing, and we’re moving forward and excited about that. So that’s in the works. And the Italian series “Citadel: Diana,” I think it delivers in a lot of ways. She’s a really cool character. It’s very exciting, obviously, in the spy genre, but it’s really grounded in reality and very well executed, and it keeps you on the edge of your seat. And the star of the show is absolutely brilliant. And then we also have a series called “Honey Bunny” that comes out of India. Our biggest producers, Amazon’s most celebrated creators, Raj & DK (Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK), are bringing this series that’s sort of a prequel that takes you deeper into the world of “Citadel.”
Sanders: The series “Diana” comes from Italy, “Honey Bunny” comes from India, each of them has a very specific flavor to the region, but there is always an overall story. And there will be news in the not too distant future about season 2 of “Citadel”, the mothership, which is about to go into production soon, and we are very excited about the cast that will arrive in this franchise.
This interview has been edited and condensed.