The Fallout series from Amazon isnât done teasing fans over the potential canonicity of Obsidianâs beloved New Vegas. After constant questions about whether that game even existed in the showâs world (which were pretty definitively answered by the first seasonâs final episode), the second season is gearing up to bring New Vegas into the fold in a big way. That includes revealing that New Vegasâs big bad, Mr. House, will play a role. Of course, that only raises more questions about what is and isnât canon.
The news comes from a Variety interview with showrunners and series creators Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet. In the video interview, Wagner states that Las Vegas is Robert Houseâs town and that Mr. House âwill be involvedâ in the second season. Robert House runs New Vegas in the game and is an integral part of any story in the setting. Since New Vegas appears in the final shot of season one, we know the second season will feature the iconic location in a big way. If Mr. House is involved, it means that the show will likely need to make one particular ending of New Vegas canon: the one in which the player sides with Mr. House in the conflict for the Hoover Dam.
This ending establishes that Mr. House will continue to rule New Vegas in the years following the game, with the city described as a despotic vision of pre-war glory in which the streets are âorderly, efficient, cold.â However, if the show takes the same storytelling approach in season two as it did in season one, there is another option. Mr. House could appear in flashbacks, further revealing the machinations that led to the apocalypse in the first place. If the show takes the flashback route, it could feature Mr. House while continuing to play coy about the specific events of New Vegas to keep each playerâs ending equally canonical, for now.
Whichever ending of the game the show chooses to go with (if any in particular), it still wonât answer the question of what happened to New Vegas after the game. The show takes place 15 years after New Vegas, and in that glimpse we get of it in the first seasonâs final moments, we see it as a ruined city bereft of its signature lights and splendor. What happened in those 15 years remains a mystery the second season will likely dig into, and whether in flashback or not, Mr. House is sure to play a big role in revealing the answers.
