It’s hard to believe that over a year has passed since Amazon MGM Studios, Bethesda Game Studios, Kilter Films, and Big Indie Productions delivered a live-action television series based on Fallout, but time certainly has shown that it’s become one of the most revered and faithful adaptations of a popular video game franchise.
In fact, I was honored to be able to view the first two episodes of the new series last year thanks to Prime Video PH, and the positive feedback and praise the show got was universally positive.
Now after waiting for almost two years, Fallout returns in grand style and epic retro futuristic fashion – picking up immediately after the cliffhanger ending of the first season. Set in the same post-apocalyptic world as the games yet charting its own course by exploring a very different cast of characters, the TV series explores both an alternate fictional history America that becomes a wasteland ravaged by nuclear war and the events that led to its destruction – known to fans as “The Great War” and where many survivors fled into vaults to take refuge from the subsequent fallout caused by the radiation.
Once again, we follow the exploits of three main characters – Vault 33 dweller Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) who is looking for her father Hank MacLean (Kyle MacLachlan), Brotherhood of Steel member Maximum (Aaron Morten), and finally former Hollywood actor turned bounty hunter Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins) – better known to Fallout fans by his alias as “The Ghoul”.
Much like the games themselves (depending how you play of course), Fallout heavily on world building and character development – there’s plenty of stories, events, and narrative exposition happening around the wasteland that eventually converge and take part in a thread that makes up the overarching plot of the series.
In the case of season 2, we continue following Lucy and The Ghoul as they search for her father, Maximus as he rises in the ranks of the Brotherhood, and Hank as he finally reaches his destination – a fan favorite location of the Fallout video game series teased at the end of the first season. Here viewers are introduced to the world of New Vegas – the former Las Vegas and one of the only cities that remains relatively unchanged and unscathed by nuclear war thanks to the powers that be that preserved and made the capital of wealth and gain thanks to one Robert House – CEO of RobCo Industries and the man behind much of the technology and robotics seen in the Fallout universe. Actor Justin Theroux plays Mr. House in the second season of the show, and his enigmatic yet prominent role as the main corrupt antagonist of the series is quickly explained just by watching the first episode of season 2.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Fallout without lots of action, weapons, explosions, different factions, and mutated monstrosities and creatures that have come out of the nuclear war and were the products of post-war science and experimentation.
Besides seeing the ghouls, rad roaches, and gulpers make their grand appearance in the previous season, season 2 will finally introduce the Death Claw – one of the most powerful and carnivorous creatures seen in the games that will literally make you scream in terror based on their demonic reptilian appearance.
Another looming and dangerous presence to watch out for is The Legion – an autocratic and menacing group that gives our protagonists more headaches they’ll have to overcome in their journey. That along with new Vault-Tec machinery and devices that play a part in the story will definitely get Fallout fans excited and happy that their favorite post-apocalyptic RPG series is given the respect and attention to detail it deserves – and we have showrunners Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Grahan Wagner, and of course Bethesda’s own Todd Howard to thank for making the series so faithful and seamlessly part of the same world as the games themselves.
Without a doubt, Fallout on Prime is a show that must be seen by fans new and old – and the second season is just getting things started.
With new special cast additions that include popular Hollywood talents like Kumail Nanjiani, Macaulay Culkin, and the aforementioned Justin Theroux as Robert House, there’s plenty of star power behind this live-action adaptation of the video game series – and a reason to tune in weekly on Prime Video to catch a new episode!
The second season of Fallout is now streaming on Prime Video PH!
