Fallout Season Two Trailer Preview
Vault Dwellers, Ghouls, Super-mutants, and surface-dwellers, we are headed to New Vegas.
In April 2024, Fallout, the popular video game franchise, made its way into live-action with its own show on Amazon Prime. Despite the spotty track record when it comes to adapting video games, the series managed to do phenomenally well. Not only did it keep the spirit of post-apocalyptic America that makes the series so unique, it also added some pretty big lore to the franchise. While the first season was only eight episodes, fans thankfully have not had to wait long to see what comes next. Season two comes out this December, and we got our first look at it a few weeks ago. Having played the games and studied the lore for myself, I can tell you that what’s coming next is going to be crazy. And I’m not just saying that because we’re headed to Vegas.
Remember: Vault-Tec Stinks
To recap what vault-dweller Lucy MacLean, and by extenstion, the audience, learned at the end of the last season:
- Vault-Tec likely started the Great War that almost destroyed the world.
- Agents of Vault-Tec are working to sabotage any efforts to rebuild America without them.
- Lucy’s father is a mass-murderer who almost wiped out the New California Republic and turned her mom into a Feral Ghoul.
In other words, Vault-Tec is pure evil and Lucy needs to stop her father. Thus, she, the Ghoul, and Dogmeat must chase her father east to the Mojave to one of the franchise’s most iconic settings, New Vegas. And this is a big deal.
Jewel of the Mojave, New Vegas
In 2010, Obsidian Entertainment developed a Fallout game on Bethesda Studios behalf called Fallout: New Vegas. The game and its DLC are set in the Mojave Desert, which, unlike most of America, managed to get through the nukes falling largely unscathed. That was due to the intervention of Mr. Robert House, a man that we see the Ghoul meet in the trailer back when he was still a human. This genius billionaire roboticist had predicted that nuclear war was coming, so he took it upon himself to make sure his home of Vegas could ride it out. Thanks to his array of anti-missile defenses, most of the nukes headed for the Mojave failed to detonate, sparing it the worst of what was to come. After that, House used an army of robots to rebuild Vegas into New Vegas and bring survivors in to inhabit it and work for him. Fast forward to the start of New Vegas, and Mr. House remains the master of the jewel of the Mojave.
Yes, you read that right. Mr. House placed himself inside a sterile life-support system that kept him alive for two hundred years. His ultimate goal was to amass enough resources to build starships to make it to more habitable planets. Unfortunately for him, others were eyeing the Mojave.
Caesar’s Legion
As shown in the trailer, Lucy and the Ghoul will likely be running into another faction in the Mojave Wasteland: Caesar’s Legion. Founded by a former Mormon pastor and modeled after the Roman Empire, Caesar’s Legion is a nightmare. When players encounter them in New Vegas, they’re competing with both the New California Republic and House for control of the Hoover Dam. Whatever side controls the dam will be able to control New Vegas itself, which was Caesar’s main goal throughout the game. Unfortunately for him, he was dealing with a brain tumor that threatened to kill him if it wasn’t removed.
The interesting thing about New Vegas, though, is that there is no definitive ending to it. Players are able to decide which faction will ultimately come out on top in the Mojave. They can even decide to simply seize control of Vegas for themselves if they want to. With the second season of Fallout taking place fifteen years after the events of that game, the show will likely be settling what ending was ultimately canon. No matter what route the show decides, people will likely be upset.
If it’s any consolation, though, we’ll be getting a live-action Deathclaw this season.
If you see a Deathclaw…RUN!
One of the biggest highlights of the trailer came near the end with footage of Lucy and The Ghoulf being attacked by a Deathclaw. For those who don’t know, they’re the result of a government science experiment gone horribly wrong. Before the war, the government mutated chameleon’s to create an army of unstoppable living weapons. Their creations proved so tough that when the bombs fell, they escaped into the Wastelands, multiplied like crazy, and became the new apex predators. Their claws alone are capable of tearing a person’s arms off!
Anyone who’s played the Fallout games can attest to just how dangerous a Deathclaw can be. If the Yao Gui looked scary, then the Deathclaw is even worse. Only the bravest and most prepared players can take one on, and even then, it might not be enough. And that is only a taste of the dangers awaiting in the Mojave!
This should be Fun!
It may seem sad to know that Fallout could affirm what was canon about New Vegas, but this was inevitable. If the series winds up revisiting the settings of the past games, then we need to be prepared to accept what will end up being canon going forward. That won’t detract from the enjoyment the games bring people. Plus, it will make the inevitable future installments a bit more interesting, if you ask me.
