Fallout season 2 is confirmed, but as far as details about what the popular video game adaptation could do in season 2, it’s all speculation and theories. Fallout is a popular game series which was first published in 1997 and operated purely on computers. However, over the years, several sequels were released with the game moving onto powerful video game consoles and becoming more widely popular. Now, decades after the original games began, the series has been adapted for Amazon Prime Video and proven popular with record streaming figures (via Deadline).
The series builds on the lore and world established in the games, but moves into new territory at the same time. While Fallout season 1 revealed many familiar details and Easter Eggs for fans of the franchise, there are so many more stories that could be told in the following seasons. Theories which incorporate lore from the games, follow and build on the events of season 1, and some that could be unexpected are in full flow, with some theories proving more likely than others.
Kicking things off, the first theory suggests that one of the most popular antagonists in the video games could be set to appear in season 2. At the close of the premiere season, Hank is last seen fleeing from Lucy and the others in the power suit. He makes it as far as a vast desert, where the distant skyline reveals a familiar setting for fans of the game, New Vegas.
However, New Vegas is also the home of some of the worst and most vicious people who walk the wastelands, including the terrifying Caesar and his Legion. Season 1 has explored four primary factions so far, with the wild raiders, the Brotherhood of Steel, the New California Republic, or NCR, and the wealthy and powerful Enclave. While these are all essential groups in the games and each has various purposes and functions, Caesar’s Legion could bring something new and dark into the picture.
The Brotherhood is revealed to be a highly militaristic and religious organization which relies on ceremony and rank to maintain order. However, the Brotherhood is also full of disillusioned members who occupy every rank within their group. This is seen when the Knight who Maximus serves under, Titus, expresses his disdain for the group.
In addition, people like Maximus and his peers are driven primarily by fear and faith. With agitators like Maximus shaking things up, and raising questions about why they are tracking down old relics, it could start a civil war in the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood does not appear to have a great deal of stability or control over its members, and this could lead to a division within the group explored in season 2.
One theory suggests that the main character, Lucy MacLean, may in fact be pregnant. In episode 1, Lucy is seen to engage in sexual intercourse with her new husband from Vault 32. The only problem is, the visiting party from Vault 32 was actually a bunch of Raiders who had taken over the Vault and hoped to get additional resources from Vault 33. Lucy believed the man she met was intended for her, and so they returned to the room that should have been their new home to consummate the marriage.
However, Lucy then learns that her husband was not really who she believed him to be, and the group he arrived with were actively killing her friends and family in the Vault. While Lucy is then able to fight back and prevent further deaths in her community, she has already had sex with the raider before killing him. It is therefore highly possible that Lucy is now carrying a child, which could complicate things in season 2.
Another big player in Fallout: New Vegas is a man by the name of Mr. House. Before the outbreak of the war, he managed to achieve incredible success and wealth through his entrepreneurial nature and his engineering talents. He becomes highly influential and powerful, and Fallout season 1 even shows him sitting in on a meeting about an ensuing nuclear war with other wealthy figures before the bombs.
Mr. House preserved his mind and body through careful measures, but his plan ran into a few hiccups when the advanced operating chip that should have been installed in his system did not arrive in time before the bombs. The games see Mr. House impeded by an inferior computer chip, yet still managing to be a powerful figure. The games see him come remarkably close to getting the chip back over 200 years after it was intended to arrive, but the series could take things further and have Mr. House with the platinum chip already installed.
Extending on from the meeting of powerful minds, this same meeting was where people in Vault-Tec and other leading companies discussed their plans to set off nuclear warheads themselves. The bombs were a way to control and manipulate the reduced surviving population, and enhance these companies’ profits and powers. While the bombs ultimately go off, the original video games creator, Tim Cain, has presented a theory suggesting it wasn’t Vault-Tec that did it (via Kotaku).
Despite the show framing this meeting alongside images of the bombs and the aftermath, Cain believes it could be a misdirect by the show’s writers. The reason he provides for why it may not be Vault-Tec that dropped the bombs in the end is simple, Cooper Howard’s wife. Barb Howard was shown to be a very involved member of this company, and she stated that her work there guaranteed herself and her family room in the vault. If that is the case, why were Cooper and their daughter out when the bombs arrived, instead of safe and secured in a Vault.
Norm MacLean is positioned as being somewhat of a coward throughout season 1. When everyone is being attacked, he chooses to hide. When work is assigned, Norm slacks off. And generally, Norm seems disillusioned and dissatisfied with life in general. However, season 1 also saw Norm undergo major character growth as he put his time and effort into uncovering the mysteries of Vault 31.
Norm ends the first season in a precarious situation where he has the chance to enter a cryogenic sleep and be numbered with the leaders and rulers of the future society in Vault 31. But honestly, that feels like too much work, and too boring for the character on his ongoing journey. Norm is likely to make his way out of the Vault, and potentially get to the surface, just like his sister, in order to become a bigger part of season 2.
Lee Moldaver is one of the leaders of the rebel forces and a highly intelligent woman who appears throughout season 1 of Fallout. However, Moldaver is also revealed to have been present in the time before the outbreak of war, and her own scientific research led to the discovery and application of cold fusion. Moldaver initially worked with Vault-Tec to pursue her scientific passions, but she later led a group of individuals who were firmly against these corporate entities and their goals.
However, Moldaver is another person who survived from before the war, which was at least 200 years before the events that occupy much of the series. Unlike Cooper, she is not a ghoul, so her extended life is likely not because of that. The only other figures seen before and after the war are people like Hank MacLean, who were employed with Vault-Tec and opted in to be frozen to lead the next generation. Which means that it is possible that, despite her protests, Moldaver chose to be frozen with the rest of the people in Vault-Tec.
Maximus found himself constantly in positions where he could claim credit and prizes that he had desperately wanted. From being passed over to serve the Knights, but then getting his chance when his dear friend was terribly wounded, to the Brotherhood walking in to find Maximus alone and a dead Moldaver. However, while he wants the recognition and admiration to begin with, he ends the season trying to reject it.
Maximus is set to get a promotion to become a Knight within the Brotherhood, but now, he may not want it like he used to. With his conflicting feelings, and the fragility of the out of touch group that he works with, Maximus could be set to take on a bigger, but more unexpected role in the group. Maximus could be one of the primary figures leading a call for reformation and revolution within their ranks.
There is no doubt that Walter Goggins as the Ghoul in Fallout is one of the most important and entertaining parts of the show. However, his time could run short in season 2 if one theory holds true, and the creators want to create a shake-up in subsequent seasons. Overall, the Ghoul is a man with a singular focus and a clear mission.
Up to the end of season 1, he was in hot pursuit of a scientist with a bounty on his head. Over time, he began to learn about what his mission could be, and being a just and fair man, for the most part, he is hoping to see the mission through to the end and get the right bad people in trouble. But in the process of completing this mission, he could very possibly be killed for good. He has lived for well over 200 years, and his body relies on constant treatment. It could be time for his character to die, and avoid any more suffering as an irradiated monster.