Frances Turner is back in the Fallout universe, returning as a series regular in Amazon Prime Video’s critically acclaimed hit opposite Walton Goggins, as the buzz builds and the story deepens.
Turner reprises her role as Barb Howard, the pre-war wife of Goggins’ Cooper Howard and mother to their daughter—a character who upended expectations in the Season 1 finale. What initially appeared to be a devoted spouse was revealed to be something far more formidable: a strategic power player embedded deep within Vault-Tec’s plans for a post-apocalyptic future. The twist reframed everything we thought we knew about Barb—and the world of Fallout itself.
As Season 2 unfolds (it premiered December 17 and continues with weekly episodes through February 4), Turner steps fully into the spotlight, with pivotal late-January episodes set to peel back the layers of Barb’s ambition, intelligence and influence. That sharp complexity mirrors Turner’s own unconventional path to Hollywood. Before acting, she built a successful career as a corporate attorney after graduating from Cornell University and Georgetown University Law Center, practicing at a major firm before making the leap to the screen.
Since then, Turner has established herself as a dynamic and thoughtful performer, consistently bringing intelligence and emotional depth to her roles. In addition to Fallout, her standout credits include Prime Video’s The Boys, The Man in the High Castle and New Amsterdam.
As Barb’s full backstory comes into focus, we sat down with Turner to talk ’50s beauty and walking the “moral tightrope.”
What are you excited for fans to see for your character, specifically, and the whole second season?
“I’m really excited for fans to see more of Barb’s interior self. We learned a lot about her in Season 1 through the point of view of, essentially, Coop. This season, we’re going to learn more about Barb from Barb. We’ll see her experiences from her point of view as she’s living them—her decisions, why she’s making them and the consequences that follow. She’s really walking a moral tightrope, and that would be a lot on anyone’s shoulders.
There are things she wants, and she does want to protect her family. She’s also navigating the Vault-Tec life. That’s where we’re going to find her.”
When the phone rang to share that you were picked up for Season 2, how did that call go?
“It was very exciting. The most exciting thing has been how game fans have embraced the show. Fans of video games are a tough bunch—if they don’t love a show, they’ll let you know! But they’ve embraced it, and they’ve embraced the characters, including the new ones. We’re not copying or following stories from the games, but we got the world right. We had to get the world right—the lore—and it truly sits within the world of Fallout. For fans to embrace the new characters and see the games reflected in the show is really awesome.
Then, to also have fans who came to the show without knowing anything about the games embrace it—and not find it confusing to get immersed—I think is a real win. That’s been really exciting to watch unfold.”
How does your glam and your character’s fashion change over the episodes? Since you are going through different time periods, how does that work in getting the hair, makeup and clothing right?
“I always say Barb is a fashion girlie because her wardrobe is incredible. Huge shout-out to our wardrobe and costumes department, led by Dayna Pink—especially in Season 2. For the most part, her wardrobe is designed and built entirely by our costumes department. Everything is original. It’s the vintage ’50s aesthetic, but with a future spin on it. There’s very little I have to do, in my mind, to become Barb. I just put on her clothes, and then the hair goes on.
To me, her hair reminds me of all the icons I love… Dorothy Dandridge, Eartha Kitt. I learned so much more about it, especially spit curls. This season, Barb wears a lot of spit curls. We have a great head of the hair department, Dennis Bailey. Just stepping into the hair, the makeup, the wardrobe and then onto our sets—which are art in and of themselves—there’s very little work that your imagination has to do to get you to the place you need to be for whatever the circumstances are of the scene.”
Do you have any go-to skin care you use when you wrap on set for the day?
“I wash my makeup off. That is on set or in life! I don’t sleep in makeup, so I make sure I wash it off as soon as I’m done. I have a skin-care brand that I’ve used for a really long time called Botnia. It’s small, natural and sustainable. An aesthetician used their products on me years ago, and I’ve just stuck with them. I use the peptides and all of those things. I just really try to take really good care of my skin and keep it hydrated and moisturized. I love little gadgets, so I use red light therapy and things like that. The most important thing for me is that my approach to beauty and skin care is that it supports the work I do on the inside.
I also hydrate. I drink a lot of water, yes, because it’s great for the skin—but I also hydrate my energy and my spirit. What I’m feeding my soul gives me that glow from the inside out, and my skin care just supports that.”
Is there anything you’re excited about for the New Year, in addition to the show?
“There are some things I’m interested in that are in conversation that I can’t talk about quite yet, but I’m really looking forward to diving back into Barb’s journey. As you know, we already have a Season 3, and we’re continuing along the lines of stepping into the shoes of three-dimensional, complex, nuanced women—women who find themselves navigating the space between who they are, who they want to be and how the world sees them.
I love a woman who, from the outside, you think is one thing, and then you uncover layers and layers about her. Barb is not just an archetype—she holds many different parts of herself at once. I’m really looking forward to doing more of that work.”