Summary
Following the tease of a shift to the iconic game location in the season 1 finale, showrunners Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner discussFalloutseason 2’s New Vegas setting. The Prime Video adaptation of Bethesda’s acclaimed video game franchise revolved around Vault Dweller Lucy as she ventured out into the Wasteland in search of her kidnapped father, putting her on an intersecting path with the bounty hunter gunslinger, The Ghoul, and hopeful Brotherhood of Steel member, Maximus.Falloutseason 1’s endingsaw Lucy’s father flee to New Vegas to run from his past, with her turning to The Ghoul for help tracking him down.
During a recent interview withAwards Daily, Robertson-Dworet and Wagner were asked about their plan to explore New Vegas inFalloutseason 2 and the potential return of any game characters. Though the duo were careful not to share any spoilers for the in-development season, the showrunners did confirm that the location will be a key part of the tone of season 2, while also confirming that it will be set long after the timeline of the 2010 video game. See what Robertson-Dworet and Wagner shared below:
Geneva Robertson-Dworet: Hard to answer without spoilers, but needless to say there is plenty we want to explore. It is a really brilliant game, very funny in places which we are very drawn to.
Graham Wagner: It is one of the darker ones in my view as well. What we can say is time has gone by since the events of New Vegas. That is the closest we can get without getting into spoilers. Remember Fallout 1 was an isometric game with just this top view of what’s going on within the graphics of 1997, which is very different from being able to run around the world in first person. With New Vegas, there are people who can navigate the map blindfolded, so we have a very specific rendered game to adapt this time, which is presenting some challenges and opportunities. It is more complex than season 1.
Why New Vegas Is So Important For Fallout Season 2
Interestingly, though this isn’t the first time creative members have addressedFallout’s timeline connection to the games, it does offer some proper insight for how far into the future the show is. In 2010’sFallout: New Vegas, there had been 204 years since the nuclear apocalypse occurred, and was set in the year 2281, whereas the show is set in 2296, said to be exactly 200 years afterwards, despite a 15-year gap. Executive producer Jonah Nolan and game director Todd Howard previously confirmed that the nuclear apocalypse seen in the show was “just after the events of New Vegas”, as they wanted to ensure they kept the show firmly in the established universe:
Todd Howard: [W]e talked through it, and it was, “This would be a pretty impactful story moment that a lot of things anchor on.” We’re careful about the timeline. There might be a little bit of confusion in some places. But everything that happened in the previous games, including New Vegas, happened. We’re very careful about that. All I can say is we’re threading it tighter there, but the bombs fall just after the events of New Vegas…. [I wanted something that] would stand up as another entry in the series as opposed to retelling one of the games we did and sort of treat it like we do a game and move the timeline forward and do some great things. And that’s what [Nolan] was thinking as well.
By takingFalloutseason 2 to the iconic game location, Robertson-Dworet and Wagner are not only afforded the opportunity to better close some of the narrative gaps between the show and games, but also better explore some of the factions touched upon in season 1. One of the more notable is that of the New California Republic, which was seen in season 1 with Lee Moldaver having been a leader of the group, only to hit a major setback when Lucy’s father, Hank, destroyed their founding location, Shady Sands, with a nuclear bomb. WithNew Vegasestablishing the NCR as a key figure in the player character’s story, giving them a bigger presence in season 2 will be an important element.
Another major factionFalloutseason 2 can introduce with the shift to New Vegas is that of Caesar’s Legion, the totalitarian-driven regime who sought to take over the NCR and the areas they controlled. GivenNew Vegasfeatured four different endings, two of which resulted in The Legion’s destruction, it seems likely that season 2 will either have to establish one of them as canon, or dance around the topic completely. With Robertson-Dworet and Wagner’s success in building both something original and faithful with season 1 and acknowledging the importance ofNew Vegas' tone,Falloutseason 2 looks to be on the right track.
The entirety ofFalloutseason 1 is available to stream on Prime Video.
Fallout
Cast
Set 200 years after an apocalypse, Fallout follows residents of luxury shelters as they re-enter a post-nuclear world. Confronted with a bizarre and violent landscape, the series explores the stark contrasts between their sheltered existence and the harsh realities of the outside universe.
