What We Want to See When Fallout Returns to New Vegas

Fallout‘s second season is set to arrive this winter after wrapping up production earlier in May. The series already has a third season renewal, giving them plenty of space to comfortably continue the story of the Ghoul, Maximus, and Lucy MacLean as they chase after her father, Hank MacLean. For those who caught the first season of the Prime Video adaptation, you know this search has altered its mission since Lucy set out to rescue him in episode one. Hank has now been revealed as a corporate genocidal murderer with Vault-Tec who is responsible for dropping a nuclear bomb on the New California Republic’s capital, Shady Sands. The revelations come swiftly in the first season finale, but in the end, Fallout fans were left very excited by where the series was heading in Season 2.

After confronting his daughter and the Ghoul and confirming the horrible truth about Shady Sands, and the death of Lucy’s mother in the process, Hank escapes, and the unlikely duo set out to give chase to close the season. Their destination and the assumed setting for the second season: New Vegas in the Mojave Wasteland. With that reveal, fans of Fallout are excited for a second go-around with one of the most popular games in the series.

Return to the Mojave

Fallout: New Vegas stands apart from the main Fallout series from Bethesda, with Obsidian Entertainment being contracted to create the spin-off sequel. Moving far from the Capital Wasteland of Fallout 3 to the Mojave Wasteland gives the game a rich world to play around in while not directly affecting events we’ve seen in the Bethesda releases. The game’s story follows a Courier ambushed and left for dead while delivering data within a “Platinum Chip” to the titular city. After waking up and being nursed back to health, the courier heads out to explore the Mojave, reacquire the chip, and survive the core of the tug-of-war over New Vegas and the Hoover Dam between the numerous factions.

It’s safe to say that the appearance of the city at the end of Fallout‘s first season, and with more confirmation in the credits, fans are giddy over the possibilities that could be brought to life on the show.

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Season 1 brought plenty of elements from the games to life, including life in the Vaults, the Vault-Tec technology like Pip-Boys, power armor, and factions that inhabit the Fallout world like the Brotherhood of Steel and NCR. If the show travels to New Vegas and treats the events of the game as canon, there is a wealth of things we’d want to find out.

What Can We Expect

We already know deathclaws to be a part of the second season, confirmed by co-showrunner Graham Wagner and teased in the finale when Hank steps on a deathclaw skull on the way to New Vegas. The deadly beast was going to be introduced in the first season, but they held off to “get it right.” Apart from ghouls, the deathclaw is probably the most memorable component from the games; the deadliest, too.

Other elements already introduced are the New California Republic, one of the major factions from the game. Given Hank’s role in the destruction of Shady Sands and the NCR’s presence in the Mojave, it should be interesting to see if they are still holding to the territory and aware of what transpired. Bethesda head Todd Howard and other game designers have helped to develop the streaming series and make it stand on its own as another entry in the overall series.

The game saw the NCR go against several factions in the area and struggle for control against the violent Caesar’s Legion and the mysterious Mr. House from New Vegas. Given the game’s setting, falling around a decade before the Prime series, we should finally discover the canon ending to the game.

The status of the NCR established in the series rules them out as an outright winner, and the appearance of the Lucky 38 as Hank makes his way to New Vegas has some claiming the ending has already been determined. But for fans who spent hours in the games, there are so many winding roads and frayed connections in the area, it’ll be interesting to see what has changed in the area since the end of the game. For me, I’m just excited to see the real-world locations brought to life in their post-apocalyptic form.

I’m also excited to see some of the oddities and retro futuristic aspects of New Vegas get the spotlight. One way or another, it seems that Hank is heading to see Mr. House, who was already introduced pre-war in the series. Caesar’s Legion would be far too violent to control the entire area; the NCR is in tatters, so Mr. House seems to be the victor over the Vegas strip and a survivor with help from his Rob-Co minions and the Courier’s actions in the video game. Now give me some super mutants, introduce Rex the dog, and don’t forget about The King. He’s right there just waiting to shake those hips in live-action.

Past New Vegas

Seeing how the show is heading to the established setting for one of the Fallout games, and heading east in the process, could we eventually get back to the Capital Wasteland, The Commonwealth, or any of the other locales revealed in the series since Fallout 3? Would Lucy need to head back to the start to Appalachia from Fallout 76? Or would we be able to see the show go in a new direction?

The show doesn’t need to retread these territories, at least not in the same way as it is treating New Vegas. Its inclusion cements it as an important locale, but it also taps into a lot of the high strangeness that highlighted the original games from Interplay Entertainment. It’s also an olive branch for fans who loved Fallout: New Vegas but felt Bethesda wasn’t favorable to it being part of the main series. Now it is right in the thick of it.

And who is to say the series doesn’t end its current story and expand to new cities and characters in the future? Or, given its success, what about a spin-off anthology series that explores the World of Fallout? Fans are spoiled for choice at this point, with a successful video game adaptation that doesn’t immediately fumble and fail the franchise. We’re a long way from the likes of the Street Fighter or Double Dragon movies.

Fallout‘s second season will premiere in December on Amazon Prime. Fans can stream the entire first season currently, and they even have time for a replay of New Vegas before December arrives.

Will fans be disappointed by New Vegas when it arrives in the Fallout streaming series? Is there anything we missed that you want to see? Let us know in the comments.

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