At the end of Fallout Season 1, Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) and the Ghoul (Walton Goggins) set out into the Wasteland with new missions. They are searching for Lucy’s father, Hank (Kyle MacLachlan), and the Ghoul’s family. But the Wasteland is so big, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack, so our heroes are definitely going to face new threats as they wander about. The games contain a lot of clues about where they may be headed, and what dangers await them in this post-nuclear world. One thing is for sure: It’s not going to be easy for them.

The City of New Vegas Will Be a Major Location in ‘Fallout’ Season 2

The ending of Fallout Season 1 leaves the Wasteland wide open for Lucy MacLean and the Ghoul to explore, but the end-credits scene also gives a major hint about where they could be headed. It shows Hank MacLean after he runs away from the Observatory during the final confrontation between him, Lucy, the Ghoul, and Lee Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury). Piloting the Power Armor he stole from the Brotherhood of Steel, he overlooks the city of New Vegas in the Mojave Desert. New Vegas is where one of the most beloved games in the franchise, Fallout: New Vegas, takes place, and it holds many, many secrets.

In the New Vegas game, the player controls a character named the Courier, who is likely dead by the time the events of the Prime Video series take place. The Courier gets caught in a fight between the New Vegas management — led by its founder, Robert House (René Auberjonois) — the New California Republic (NCR), and Caesar’s Legion. The city was the least affected by the nuclear apocalypse in 2077 thanks to House’s technological improvements around it, and became a haven for gambling and money in the middle of the Wasteland. While there are four different possible outcomes for the player to choose from at the end of the game, none of them matter for Fallout Season 2, as it will take place 17 years after the game, with New Vegas seemingly in ruins.

New Vegas is an important location for Season 2 because, besides its role in the games, Robert House (Rafi Silver in the series) is revealed to be one of Vault-Tec’s senior executives, who was present when it was decided that the company itself would drop the nuclear bombs that started the apocalypse. This, coupled with the fact that New Vegas still holds a few operational Vaults, including the mysterious Vault 21, is an indicator that the company’s senior management might be in cryo-sleep in the city, just like junior executives are in Vault 31. If so, the Ghoul’s wife, Barb (Frances Turner), who is also a senior executive at Vault-Tec, is among the people there, and the fact that the Ghoul is looking for her is a promise of another confrontation with Hank MacLean.

The New California Republic Still Has Things To Settle With the Brotherhood of Steel

The Prime Video Fallout series is the latest part of the franchise, chronologically speaking. There are centuries between the nuclear apocalypse in 2077 and the series, and many things have happened in this period. Cities have been founded and destroyed, different factions have won and lost many battles. However, there are two that have endured after all this time, the NCR and the Brotherhood of Steel. And, judging by how Season 1 ended, their conflict is far from finished.

Besides Lucy MacLean and the Ghoul, the third protagonist in Fallout is Maximus (Aaron Moten), who is christened as a knight of the Brotherhood after their battle against the NCR in the Observatory. Maximus is a complex character who wants nothing more than to not be bullied after suffering for years, but is compelled by his circumstances to become a bully himself. After all he and Lucy have been through together, “losing” her to the Ghoul feels like a defeat for him, even though the Brotherhood won their battle. Were it not for Moldaver’s interference as the leader of the NCR, Lucy would probably still be beside Maximus in their quest, making it a personal quarrel for him against the NCR.

This also means venturing into places that the Fallout games have not yet explored. The battle between the Brotherhood and the NCR happens because both want the cold fusion reactor core, which was hidden inside Dr. Siggi Wilzig’s (Michael Emerson) head. Even though the Brotherhood won the battle, Moldaver still managed to turn on the reactor, providing energy to what used to be Los Angeles for the first time in centuries. Although California itself is a big location in the games, Los Angeles itself could become a setting for the first time, as the Brotherhood deals with the aftermath of these events. The NCR has lost many battles before, but they always come back somehow, so it will be interesting to see how their partial victory will influence their quarrel with the Brotherhood.

Many Factions, Like the Enclave, Still Haven’t Shown Up in the Series

One of the key aspects that the Prime Video series captures about the Fallout franchise is how the many factions that occupy the Wasteland are always in conflict. Even if they aren’t engaged in direct fighting, they are always competing to be above the others. And there are many factions in the Wasteland — many. In the series, the NCR and the Brotherhood of Steel are the two that appear, as well as the smaller communities.

The games feature four main factions, of which there is one that is yet to show up in the series, the Enclave. Like the Brotherhood of Steel, which was formed from the remains of the US army, the Enclave also comes from a sect inside the old US government. It was a shadow organization that had members throughout the many political layers, and sought to take control of the Wasteland many times throughout the games. In the series, the Enclave is mentioned a few times, but they are never seen, and are meant to sound as if they have been permanently defeated.

In Fallout, however, it’s very difficult for a faction like the Enclave, the NCR, and the Brotherhood of Steel to be defeated for good. They usually divide their operations, and, wherever there are spots of civilization, there are always people from one of those groups around, too. With the cold fusion reactor core functional, there is bound to be a resurgence in many of those cells that were perhaps dormant before. Wherever they are, they are surely going to make things complicated for Lucy, the Ghoul, and Maximus in Season 2 and beyond.

Fallout is available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.