Fallout's co-showrunner Geneva Robertson-Dworet has revealed that the New Vegas-set second season of the show won't reveal which of the endings from 2010's Fallout: New Vegas is canon.
"The discussions [Bethesda's] Todd [Howard], [executive producer Jonathan Nolan], and [co-showrunner Graham Wagner] and the whole creative team had was that we wanted to avoid making one particular ending correct [from] any of the games," Robertson-Dworet tells GamesRadar+.
For the avoidance of doubt, both Todd Howard and the creative team have been at pains to confirm the Prime Video series' status as canon within the Fallout universe – ever since the first season.
"We view what's happening in the show as canon," Howard said in a 2023 interview with Vanity Fair. "That's what's great, when someone else looks at your work and then translates it in some fashion."
"Our series sits in relation to the games as the games sit in relation to each other. It’s almost like we're Fallout 5," executive producer Jonathan Nolan also told Total Film magazine last year.
But that doesn't mean there can't be hazy details or fudged specifics in relation to either an ending choice you may have made as the Courier in Fallout: New Vegas, or in any other titles.
"We wanted, wherever possible, to basically say that any player's experiences and the choices they made might have happened leading up to the show," the showrunner said.
"Of course, there might be moments that contradict that," Robertson-Dworet admits. "But that was our intention – because we didn't want to contradict anyone's experiences playing the games."
Depending on the player's actions towards the back end of Obsidian's classic RPG, you could be aligned with the New California Republic or Caesar's Legion as they bid to take Hoover Dam – or you can work alongside Mr. House to see his goals come to fruition. Another fan favorite ending, Yes Man, sees all three major factions defeated, with New Vegas becoming an independent state.
To that end, Fallout season 2 is set a decade-and-a-half after the events of Fallout: New Vegas. Whatever the outcome of the ending may have been, the ravages of time has seemingly weathered New Vegas and conflicts continue. War, as they say, never changes.
"That's why we very intentionally set our show years after the events of the games. For example, this season of Fallout takes place about 15 years after the events of Fallout: New Vegas, and we tried as much as possible to avoid saying any canonical ending is real," Robertson-Dworet explains.
"Instead, 15 years have gone by and Vegas is not exactly as you remember it, because naturally, in the wasteland, there's constantly shifts, right? There's warring factions trying to kill each other, take over each other's territory every day. So things would not remain the same over 15 years. Some things fans will recognize as very much the same, but other things have changed. I hope when they say we have changed things from how it was in the game, they understand there's an implied story there we hope they think is delicious and fun."
Fallout season 2 hits Prime Video on December 17. For more, check out our On the Radar preview, plus the ranking of all the best Fallout games.
