With the Fallout Season 2 finale out now on Prime video, we know which location Season 3 is headed towards. But don’t pack for snow just yet, because co-showrunner Geneva Robertson-Dworet and even Todd Howard himself are suggesting it may take some time to get there.
Warning! Spoilers for Fallout Season 2 finale follow:
As we now know, the ending of Fallout Season 2 sets up Colorado as the location for Season 3, with The Ghoul, played by Walton Goggins, already on his way. So, should we expect Season 3 to kick off in Colorado? Or will there be more to the journey?
In a new interview with IGN, co-showrunner Geneva Robertson-Dworet explained why the decision was made to head to a brand new location in the first place. It turns out it was inspired by the Fallout video games themselves, which are typically each set in a different location. Fallout 3, for example, is set in the Capital Wasteland, a post-apocalyptic version of the city of Washington and the surrounding areas. Fallout: New Vegas is set in the Mojave Wasteland, which includes post-apocalyptic Las Vegas. Fallout 4 is set in the Commonwealth, which takes in the surrounding area of Boston, Massachusetts. And Fallout 76 is set in Appalachia, although updates have expanded its borders.
Indeed, one of the thrills of playing a new Fallout game is discovering and exploring a post-apocalyptic take on a brand new location, and getting to see how it's doing hundreds of years after the bombs fell. This, Robertson-Dworet said, influenced the showrunnners' thinking.
“Well, it came out of many conversations about how the games are of course regional. One of the delights of finding out there's going to be a new Fallout game is immediately the question of like, well, where is it going to be set? And of course, our first season being LA, second season being New Vegas, we were excited to go to fresh snow.”
Now onto the tease. Robertson-Dworet made a point of teasing that we will see The Ghoul’s journey to Colorado, and that there will be plenty of twists and turns along the way. In doing so, she referenced one of The Ghoul’s most famous lines from Season 1, when he tells Lucy the Wasteland’s 'golden rule': “Thou shalt get side tracked by bullshit every goddamn time.”
“We want to remind viewers that just because The Ghoul is heading to Colorado, of course this is the Wasteland where you always get sidetracked by bullshit every goddamn time,” Robertson-Dworet quipped. “So how long will it take him to get there, or will he get there in the first episode of the next season? We will have to wait to find out. It may not be as linear a journey as one would hope.”
Bethesda development chief Todd Howard echoed Robertson-Dworet’s comment, adding: “Yeah, look, there's a lot of surprises coming. We talk about it a lot. And so what I'd say is geography plays such a part into the world of Fallout, and seeing what's there. And there's a lot of land out there, there's a lot of places to explore yet. It's exciting for us to do that in games. And it's really exciting to do it in a TV show where we can jump locations. I wouldn't presume too much yet, I know we're hinting at stuff, but there's a lot of surprises to come.”
So, it sounds like The Ghoul and friends are set for some meaty sidequests as they trade in the sand-filled Mojave Wasteland for the snowy peaks of post-apocalyptic Colorado. This is an area that has yet to be explored by the mainline Fallout video games, so everything will feel brand new to an army of Fallout fans, and we can expect a significant expansion of the Fallout canon.
While we wait to find out more, in the same interview with IGN, Howard touched on the ongoing debate about Fallout canon and the TV series avoiding picking an ending of New Vegas. This has been a hot topic ever since Fallout came out, really, but it was fueled by Mr. House’s appearance in Season 2 and the state of not just the Strip itself but the various factions operating in the area.
Todd Howard and the showrunners have been clear throughout that no ending was made canon, despite the events of the show. And Robertson-Dworet and Howard reiterated the point speaking to IGN ahead of the Season 2 finale.
“It's probably the trickiest thing, right?” Howard said. “You want to go to Vegas, such an iconic location, and you really want to honor the game and honor the players' journeys that they have there while pushing things forward. And look, it's really, really tough. So I think the general approach was, leave things open for interpretation. So I know people want to say like, ‘Hey, what was the ending?’ Or, ‘What's canon and what's not canon before?’ And some of that's intentionally open to interpretation. If you take a character like Robert House, who's as smart and ingenious as he is, well logic says he would find a way to live on. And so that's just one element or things like that. And I think Geneva and Graham [Wagner], the writers, have done a great job of pulling the threads from the world of Fallout, letting you see some of it while also moving it forward. And ultimately it's really about the journey of our main characters.”
We’ve got plenty more on Fallout, including our Fallout Season 2 finale review, and an explainer on how the post-credits scene at the end of Fallout Season 2 teases something huge from the games. Oh, and here’s what that Amazon Fallout countdown turned out to be.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
