Off the Shelf Media

The time has come, wastelanders, we’re heading to the Mojave. The season 2 trailer for the Fallout series, on Prime Video, has just dropped. Let’s take a look at what has been revealed and what we can expect. If you have yet to finish season one or Fallout: New Vegas, here is your warning that spoilers are ahead.

Where we left off

As a quick reminder, season one ended with Hank MacLean, portrayed by Kyle MacLachlan, escaping in a suit of Power armor, and the last frame showed the New Vegas Strip at sunset, without a single light in the city.

This is the first contentious point that has fans swirling about what to expect next. For those who are unfamiliar, the TV series takes place nine years after the events of Fallout 4, in 2296. This makes it the newest storyline in the same universe as the games. Most of the games follow this pattern; however, Fallout 76 is the biggest outlier and has the setting of the game, just 25 years after the bombs ravaged the world, in 2102. The game itself was released after Fallout 4 in 2018 (that’s in real life, not the game universe). 

With New Vegas as the setting for the next season, it leaves a lot of excitement for fans of the game, but even more room for uncertainty. Each game offers the player choices to determine the outcome of the story. As the series has grown, the style and impact of these choices have only grown with it. Fallout: New Vegas, in particular, had several options for how the main character could have led the fate of New Vegas and the Mojave. 

The TV series established, in episode six of season one, that Shady Sands had been decimated. Lucy, played by Ella Purnell, discovers that her father destroyed the city using an atomic bomb. This city was the capital of the New California Republic. With its destruction, it all but eliminated the faction. While it might be a contentious point amongst fans, it does follow the plot established by the games. The ‘NCR’ was one of the factions vying for control of Hoover Dam and the former Las Vegas Strip. Their eastern expansion had left their forces spread thin, and based on the player’s actions during that game, they could have sought to increase their authority or diminish it even further. The show does not establish that the faction is completely eliminated, but rather, that some much smaller version of it could exist, fractured across the wasteland. 

Conquering Hoover Dam was the central target in New Vegas. The hydroelectric facility was still operational because of its construction, and also because Las Vegas itself was not directly hit by the bombs (largely because of Mr. House), leaving much of the area unscathed by direct impact. The dam allowed the inhabitants to use near-endless amounts of power and kept the strip operational even after the bombs fell. Far from its original glory, it was an incredibly unique area that remained largely developed and continuously inhabited since the apocalypse. 

The official season two trailer leaves more hints than direct answers as to what the current state of the Mojave is, so allow me to speculate. 

What could fans see in Season Two?

The biggest development is that Caesar’s Legion still retains some authority. One of the unique factions that sought to control New Vegas and the dam, in the video game they are based heavily on the Roman Empire. Even going so far as to shun away from automatic weapons and prefer physical prowess, practice slavery, and crucifixion. It is safe to say they are not the good guys. Their leader, Caesar, sought to conquer the NCR and merge their vast infrastructure with the military dominance of the legion. If you scroll to the timestamp at 1:21 in the trailer, you can see what appears to be Lucy being accompanied or captured by the legion for a split second. This establishes not only that the faction will be in the show, but that it is more than a simple flashback. Lucy’s story follows the present, and we know she has not ventured outside of the vault before the show began.

This is an interesting choice. Whatever storyline the producers for the TV show will establish, arguably, will become canon for the video games. The Legion still existing suggests that “the Courier,” the main character in Fallout: New Vegas, could have chosen to side with Caesar against the NCR and Mr. House. This would essentially make the “evil” or morally wrong playthrough storyline in the game the most canon option, at least from what we can see so far. 

However, that may not be the case. Context from the game could suggest Mr. House is very much alive. The only faction that requires you, the Courier, to kill Mr. House in the game is the NCR. since they have only been seen in the show as a fledgling of their former strength and were already shown to be spread too thin in the game, I think it is safe to say that the NCR playthrough will not be canon in the show. At the moment, we can only confirm that Caesar’s Legion is still in existence in the same timeline as the show, but in the game, Caesar’s Legion was not necessarily wiped out. The screenshot below is all the evidence you need, and something you see if you successfully sided with Mr. House.

“Pushing both the Legion and the already exhausted NCR out of New Vegas.” While the Legion may have been based East of New Vegas originally, it would not be hard to believe that they continued to pursue the NCR as they fled West after the second battle of Hoover Dam. Since the show has already established that the NCR is on its last leg, it might explain how Lucy comes in contact with the group traveling from California, heading eastward to Las Vegas.

My other piece of evidence that Mr. House still lives is his dialogue in the trailer. He tells Cooper Howard, portrayed by Walton Goggins, that, “I think you are actually quite a violent man, you just don’t want to kill me… yet.” This season will see a recast as Mr. House in the form of Justin Theroux. This small line obviously has a heavy implication, especially for fans of the game series who know Mr. House managed to extend his life in his custom-made life support chamber. It could certainly be a ruse, but it is perfectly used in the trailer to generate hype from the fanbase. 

Something in the trailer I have yet to see permeate anywhere else online is the deathclaw scene. It is only a few seconds long, starting at the 2:23 mark, but it is incredibly revealing about the current state of the Vegas Strip. Yes, I believe that scene takes place directly outside of the Lucky 38 Hotel itself. You can see below or click to 2:35 on the trailer yourself. While most of the shot is obscured by darkness, it’s actually what illuminates it that gives the setting away. Those curved lights that taper into an awning can only be found, to the best of my knowledge, in-game outside the Lucky 38’s main doors. If you don’t believe me, you can watch just a moment later and see our two main characters crash into a gate, similar to the layout of the loading screens in the game. It also reveals more of the architecture. 

What does this prove? Well, nothing is entirely absolute. It does suggest that the dam is still operational and being used to power the strip. This would align more with Mr. House, but does not entirely rule out the Legion taking over either. After all, they are running away from a deathclaw in the scene, which would not suggest the strip is particularly safe. Those who know from the games about the Enclave’s use of deathclaws and the Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV) could start connecting the dots on their own. This leaves me in a toss-up as to which is more likely: the Enclave regaining control or the legion taking control and using Deathclaws as a deterrent. I certainly do not see Mr. House using deathclaws directly on the strip as adhering to the narrative already established in the game. 

Combining all of this evidence, I think we can expect to see the Enclave as the controlling party in New Vegas, similar to the Institute in Fallout 4. The show has already established that Hank and Mr. House were directly involved with the Enclave and Vault-Tec before the bombs were dropped. Hank, after all, is fleeing to New Vegas, where we assume he will have at least one ally. I think the most logical plot line is that Mr. House will have reentered a coma/hybernation after the power draw from the Strip became too large to maintain the order he thought the platinum chip would ensure after the battle for Hoover Dam (take 2). This is something that is given as exposition during the game: In an attempt to stabilize the power draw, the chip was going to be used to update the defense system, but unfortunately, the bombs dropped the same day it was to be delivered. This caused Mr. House to try to unsuccessfully rewrite the system while in hibernation, which put him into a coma. The chip served as a system update for the laser defenses and robots Mr. House had made in anticipation of the war. This is where I speculate based on that exposition: In the years following The Courier’s intervention, the increase in need for security became too much for even the updated system to handle, combined with Caesar’s Legion, which grew unchecked by the NCR. Mr. House most likely entered into hibernation willingly, informing the Enclave of his need for more power, but his updated system was proven functional before going offline. Thus giving a strong reason to need the ColdFusion reactor from the first season. I would also guess that the Vault shown at 1:45 in the trailer is none other than Vault 21, the same vault Mr. House filled with concrete in the video game.

One issue with this theory, which is an equal part of my interpretation as well as how the show handles the source material, is Mr. House’s involvement. If he were aware that the bombs would be dropped directly by the US, as the show stated, then it would render this main story and setting exposition entirely false in the games. It feels somewhat forced to put the entire blame of the apocalypse on the shoulders of these CEOs, and it diminishes the impact of that event if it is all ‘part of the plan.’ They were smart enough to know how and where every bomb needed to drop in order to wipe out the earth without harming themselves. Sure, I can believe that. Yet, they could not secure enough energy infrastructure to be self-sufficient? Thus, needing to meddle with survivor shanty towns to function? It is trying to say they schemed to remake the world after nuclear annihilation, but did not think to plan more than a century ahead. This is opposed to the idea that they tried to prepare themselves as best they could before the bombs fell, as the games imply.

The entire plot of New Vegas revolves around Mr. House accidentally having the chip delivered the same day the bombs fell. Did he not get the memo then in the TV universe? That is my only complaint: I feel like it would have been enough to nuke Shady Sands to prove that Hank and the his conspirators were evil. Rather than try to tie every ill-intended calamity to them, and not meddling with the entire narrative thread.

Do you think I’m right or terribly wrong? Let us know what you think we will see in season two, which begins December 17. What storyline did you play with in New Vegas? Are you happy with how the show has handled the source material so far? Let us know what you think in the comments!