Todd Howard has been offered ‘a whole bunch’ of Fallout cameos, but he has no interest in becoming the next Stan Lee

Bethesda director and executive producer Todd Howard confirmed he won’t appear in the popular Fallout TV show, even though the production team offered him many chances to show up on camera. Howard is one of the most recognizable faces in game development, so fans wondered if he would make a cameo since the show was announced. But it looks like he prefers working behind the scenes.

According to PC Gamer, Howard was clear about his choice in a recent interview, saying it’s a firm no. He even shared that he had opportunities to appear in Season 1. He said, “They’ve offered me a whole bunch, even in Season 1. I was going to be in the sort of Dr. Strangelove Vault-Tec room, where they’re talking [about] all the experiments, and some other things. I think I’m best behind the camera.”

For those who watched Season 1, that Vault-Tec scene is one of the biggest moments in the series. It’s a flashback where Vault-Tec executives and other corporate leaders divide up the vault experiments among themselves right before they decide to drop the bombs. Having Howard in that dark scene would have been an interesting choice.

Howard wants to keep viewers focused on the story

The interviewer asked if he’d consider a small role, like being an extra killed by Walton Goggins’ character, The Ghoul. Howard still said no. In other cases, Dave Chappelle recently shared his uncomfortable experience at a celebrity’s house, revealing how easily things can be misunderstood in Hollywood.

“I said no to all of them so far,” he confirmed. He explained that he wants to avoid distracting viewers. He doesn’t want people watching to suddenly think, “Everyone goes, ‘oh, there’s Todd!'”

Howard was also asked if he wanted to be Bethesda’s version of Stan Lee, who made cameos in nearly every Marvel film until he died. Howard simply answered, “not at this time.” Meanwhile, streaming services face their own challenges as Amazon reversed a controversial Prime Video decision after major user complaints.

The Stan Lee comparison doesn’t quite fit anyway. Stan Lee co-created many core Marvel characters and led the company creatively for decades. While Howard is one of the most important people in modern Fallout, he didn’t create the entire franchise.

That credit belongs to Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky. Howard deserves credit for making the series a huge franchise, but his decision to avoid the spotlight shows he’s focused on the creative work itself rather than fan service. Fallout Season 2 will premiere on December 17, focusing on New Vegas. New episodes will release weekly until early February.