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Mr. House will be a name familiar to Fallout veterans – but what is he doing in Fallout season 2?
As the new season of the Prime Video post-apocalyptic series heads to the faded lights of New Vegas, you may need a primer on exactly who the mysterious figure is, what his history is in the franchise, and why he could be the key to Fallout season 2.
For all that and more, we've put together a guide on Mr. House, including what happened to him in New Vegas, what his role is in the new season, and the curious case of a possible recast that could unlock more of the wasteland's mysteries.
For more, check out our ranking of the best Fallout games.
Who is Mr. House?
First introduced in 2010's Fallout: New Vegas, Mr. House is presented as the ruler and conqueror of the New Vegas Strip.
However, his history stretches back centuries, even founding the prominent company RobCo in the 2040s.
As revealed by dialog choices in New Vegas, House declared it a "mathematical certainty" that the world would be destroyed by nuclear warfare, so aimed to find a way to protect Vegas.
To that end, his protection system neutralized several nukes and House himself was able to remain alive for centuries thanks to wiring his brain into a supercomputer. Then, his goal was clear: restore New Vegas to its former glory.
Depending on the player's actions in New Vegas, Mr. House can either tighten his grip on New Vegas against the New California Republic and Caesar's Legion, thanks to the courier's delivery of the platinum chip, or he can be disconnected from his network and outright killed.
Is Mr. House alive in Fallout season 2?
It is currently unclear if Mr. House is alive during the 'present day' events of Fallout season 2 in 2296 (set 15 years after the events of Fallout: New Vegas).
The promotional material for the series thus far has hinted that House will be entangled in The Ghoul's past life as Cooper Howard in the 21st Century, presumably due to Coop's wife Barb having a place at the high table of powerbrokers as part of Vault-Tec alongside House.
There is still a chance House could be alive come Fallout season 2, however. That's due to Fallout's showrunners opting out of a concrete commitment to any player's ending choices in Fallout: New Vegas.
"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," co-showrunner Geneva Robertson-Dworet told GamesRadar+.
So, watch this space – but don't be surprised if Mr. House pops up on a computer terminal near you very soon.
Who is playing Mr. House?
Mr. House is played in Fallout season 2 by Justin Theroux, who you might know best for his work on HBO series The Leftovers. He's also pretty handy with a pen too, having co-written the scripts for Tropic Thunder and Iron Man 2.
Curiously, House appears to have been recast this season. In the first season, he was played by Rafi Silver, though the showrunners and executive producers haven't yet explained the reasoning behind the reshuffle.
A misdirect could also be on the cards, too, as – intriguingly – executive producer Jonathan Nolan only referred to the character as 'House' and not his full name Robert House' in a recent interview with SFX magazine. It's a minor detail, but the sort of sneaky sleight of hand that House himself would revel in. Perhaps there's more to this recasting than meets the eye…
Why is Mr. House so important to Fallout season 2?
Players of New Vegas will be acutely aware of how Mr. House could shake things up in Fallout season 2: a scheming, forward-thinking ruler with a firm grasp of technology is a dangerous figure in any century, let alone one where resources are flatlining out in the wasteland.
Of course, House's close proximity to Vault-Tec's history and, specifically, Cooper Howard means he offers a window into The Ghoul's past in a way few are able to do.
As such, expect him to be positioned as one of the main antagonists of Fallout season 2 alongside Kyle MacLachlan's Hank MacLean.
House is also someone who appears to be a favorite among the creative team. Jonathan Nolan told SFX magazine that House is among the most "fascinating" of the wasteland's long, long history of prominent figures.
Also expect him to be a main catalyst towards the writers' desire to spread their wings into even more original territory away from the games.
As Nolan explained to SFX, "From the beginning, one of the most exciting things about this project has been the plan to tell an original story. This is a little like my experience in the Batman universe, because you’re encouraged to tell an original story – but you have all of this wealth and all of these treasures around you. House is one of those treasures."
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