How the Fallout TV Show Connects to the Games

As one would expect, Prime Video’s new Fallout TV series borrows more than a few ideas from the video game franchise it’s based on. Not only does the show use the same general tone and look seen in the games, it also incorporates plot elements and locales that have appeared in specific Fallout titles. To that end, here are all of the most prominent connections between the video games and the TV adaptation in Season 1 of Fallout. 

Warning: Spoilers for the entirety of the Fallout TV series are littered throughout this article. 

Fallout

Obviously, much of the DNA from the Fallout TV show stems directly from the original Fallout as this entry established what the entire franchise would become. More directly, though, Fallout happens to also be set in southern California and is the first instance in which locations such as Shady Sands appeared. The Brotherhood of Steel also make their first appearance in Fallout, which is why the faction is arguably the most prominent in the entire Fallout series. 

Late in the Fallout TV show, there is one direct reference to the original Fallout. Specifically, the water chip in Vault 33 ends up being destroyed, which means that the denizens of the locale are now in the process of running out of clean water. This same plot element is what sets the stage for the original Fallout and is the reason why the game’s protagonist leaves their own Vault in the first place. 

Fallout 2

Set 80 years after the first Fallout, Fallout 2 is again set on the West Coast of the United States and its surrounding areas. The game happens to chronicle the rise of the New California Republic, which begins to gain footing in various cities and locales within the state. Additionally, Fallout 2 is the first game in the series to introduce the Enclave. Both of these factions are present within the Fallout show, with the NCR and its eventual defeat bringing about an end to the group’s existence which first began in Fallout 2. 

Vault-Tec also happens to play a bit of a larger part in Fallout 2 as the roots of the mysterious organization are brought a bit more into the light. Subsequent Fallout games happened to explore the goals of Vault-Tec even further, with the TV series outright divulging the aims of the organization that had existed long before the nuclear bombs dropped. 

Fallout 3

Unlike Fallout and Fallout 2, Fallout 3 takes place on the complete opposite side of the country and is set in the “Capital Wasteland”, which is the destroyed remains of Washington D.C. As a result, Prime Video’s Fallout doesn’t tease or show off any locales that were found in Fallout 3. What it does do, though, is put an emphasis on the Brotherhood of Steel and the Enclave and the ongoing war between the two factions. Although they aren’t shown often in Fallout Season 1, it’s assumed that the Enclave will continue to grow more prominent in future seasons. When that happens, it’s likely that another battle between the Brotherhood and Enclave will break out. 

The most direct tie between Fallout 3 and the TV show is associated with the main character’s goals. Both the protagonist of Fallout 3 and Lucy in the Fallout series leave their respective Vaults for the first time in pursuit of their fathers. Lucy’s father ends up having a nefarious past, while the father in Fallout 3 (voiced by none other than Liam Neeson) has a much more noble end to his own character arc. 

Fallout: New Vegas

New Vegas is outright featured in the Fallout TV series, although it doesn’t show up until the final shot of Season 1. The implication is that Season 2 is going to heavily center around what has happened in New Vegas since the events of the titular game. As a result, it’s expected that the main characters of the series including Lucy, The Ghoul, and Maximus will traverse to New Vegas at some point in pursuit of Lucy’s father, Hank. 

Other than this, Fallout: New Vegas is yet another entry that features the New California Republic. The faction has a major presence in the areas around New Vegas as it vies for control in the Mojave Wasteland. It’s not known if there will still be NCR remnants in New Vegas with Season 2 of Fallout or if their fall at the hands of the Brotherhood of Steel to conclude Season 1 dissolves the organization for good. 

Fallout 4

Fallout 4 might be the game that the Fallout TV show borrows the least amount from. Much like Fallout 3, the fourth mainline entry in the series was set on the East Coast (Boston, to be specific) so there are no direct geographical ties in this manner. There is one very prominent feature from Fallout 4 that makes a return near the end of Season 1, though, and that happens to be cryogenic pods. 

Introduced in Fallout 4, cryo pods are what allow the game’s main protagonist to stay alive for hundreds of years, only to wake up in the wasteland that Boston has become. These pods are then seen again in the Fallout show, primarily as a means for Vault-Tec employees to stay alive within Vault 31. It’s implied that some other characters in Fallout may have also used cryo pods to stay alive (Moldaver, Cooper Howard, etc.) and awake at a time centuries later. The implementation of cryogenic pods seems as though it’ll continue to be a big plot element moving forward into an assumed Season 2.