This is a spoiler-free review of Fallout Season 2’s first six episodes, which start streaming weekly on Prime Video from December 16.
Amazon bet big on the weird apocalypse when it decided to turn Fallout into a TV show. With its kitschy “atompunk” visuals, near-overwhelming amounts of lore, and B-movie violence sitting as equals next to rich conspiracy plots and complex character work, it had every chance of baffling general audiences—and ran the classic risk of annoying the game’s loyal fanbase with even the smallest changes to established canon. But that bet paid off spectacularly. And what do you do when you win big? You go to Vegas. Or, at least in the nuclear wastes of tomorrow, you go to New Vegas—the setting of what many consider to be the best game in Fallout‘s storied history.
With such a move comes significant risk: it’s no easy thing to create something that can stand up to the reputation of one of the greatest RPGs of all time. But while showrunners Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet don’t hit the jackpot immediately, this second season quickly finds its identity, and it’s a more authentic adaptation of New Vegas than I ever dared hope for. The writing team has brilliantly shaped this year’s story around competing factions and figureheads—the game’s flagship feature—making for a tinderbox of a season that’s overflowing with warring tensions, difficult decisions, and backstabbing betrayals. I’ve only been able to watch six out of the total eight episodes ahead of the season’s premiere, but even if the conclusion somehow stumbles, this will still be a thoroughly worthy follow-up to one of the most surprising success stories in video game television.
Three Roads Through the Wasteland
At its core, Fallout Season 2 is once again focused on the journeys of three people. The quests of Ella Purnell’s Lucy MacLean and Walton Goggins’ The Ghoul have combined, and together they trek across the Mojave wasteland and into New Vegas itself in search of their respective families. It’s a road trip that admittedly takes a little while to get into gear—across the first couple of episodes the duo finds themselves in somewhat familiar territory—but when things do escalate, the resulting character development is exceptional. That’s particularly true of The Ghoul, who now needs to wrestle with his hollowed-out sense of morality in the face of potentially being reunited with the people he loves. Watching Goggins navigate this internal conflict is absolutely mesmerizing, and fans who fell in love with his character in Season 1 will find even more to appreciate here.
Lucy’s evolution follows a slightly more conventional fish-out-of-water trajectory, as she’s forced to adapt to a more ruthless world while desperately trying to hold onto her humanity. But Fallout‘s distinct personality keeps this compelling throughout—there’s violence, moral complexity, and yes, plenty of drugs for our wide-eyed heroine to contend with this year. Purnell continues to be perfect in the role, finding new layers in Lucy’s gradual transformation without losing what makes the character so endearing.
This is a more authentic adaptation of New Vegas than I ever dared hope for.
After having been a close companion of Lucy in Season 1, Aaron Moten’s Maximus spends most of his time with the Brotherhood of Steel this year, which significantly shifts the faction’s role in the story. Now in control of the Cold Fusion relic, the Brotherhood is a major player throughout the entire season, rather than just the backdrop for Maximus’ personal journey. In fact, the ruthlessly ambitious aims of Elder Cleric Quintus (Michael Cristofer) threaten to overshadow Maximus’ own development within the first couple of episodes, and remain central to the plot as the season unfolds.
That’s not to say Maximus is demoted from his protagonist status. The brewing conflict between the Brotherhood’s uneasy alliance of members acts as a stage upon which he can be both part of a greater power-armored ensemble as well as a lead character—he’s kept in line as one of Quintus’ soldiers in the season’s opening act, but as a visitor (Kumail Nanjiani, who’s excellent) from Boston’s Commonwealth chapter of the Brotherhood shapes him, he’s able to shape the faction in return. Maximus may feel a touch more like a cog in a greater machine this time, but he’s clearly the largest and most important gear, and watching him navigate the Brotherhood’s internal politics is genuinely thrilling.
A Wasteland-Wide Story
While Lucy and The Ghoul’s journey is very clearly the season’s central throughline, and Maximus’ struggles with the Brotherhood form the parallel support beam, the show’s scope has undeniably expanded beyond the trio that defined the first season. Now structured more akin to Game of Thrones, there are multiple other concurrent storylines that make Fallout feel like the story of the wasteland itself as much as it is the tale of its key characters. For fans who’ve been craving a more expansive look at this world, this approach delivers in spades. The show now feels truly epic in scope while maintaining the intimate character work that made Season 1 special.
All of this does make for a very packed season, and there are inevitable growing pains. The interconnected vaults 31, 32, and 33 remain a consistent part of the show despite Lucy’s distant departure. Each bunker now has its own storyline, the most pressing of which is the unfolding conspiracy of 31 and its army of frozen Vault-Tec middle managers, discovered in last year’s finale by Moisés Arias’ Norm MacLean. This feels genuinely significant and Arias continues to be fantastic, bringing gravitas to what could have been a minor role. However, this story fights for space against the seemingly less consequential plotlines unfolding in vaults 32 and 33. An intriguing mid-season reveal suggests maybe better things are still to come and that we haven’t been wasting our time, but this is outweighed by considerable comedic hijinks. I do very much enjoy Fallout‘s humorous approach to its clueless vault dwellers, but it feels like this particular joke was best left in Season 1.
There’s no attempt to choose which one of New Vegas’ many endings is “canon”, and it was absolutely the right call.
Factions Done Right
Out on the surface, there are compelling stories that deal with the New California Republic and Caesar’s Legion, two monumentally significant factions from the New Vegas video game. While the Legion is notably well-realized and both groups are elegantly woven into Lucy and The Ghoul’s larger journey, long-time fans who have been waiting 15 years to see more of these factions may find that they have, at least within the context of the first six episodes, less bearing on the overall plot than expected, appearing prominently in only a single chapter. However, what we do get is excellent, and the way these factions are portrayed feels respectful to the source material while finding fresh angles to explore.
There’s also no attempt to choose which one of New Vegas’ many endings is “canon”, although I’d argue it was absolutely the right decision to not get entangled in all those details. The narrative solutions Wagner and Robertson-Dworet have devised to sidestep such a problem are clever and respectful, and the Legion’s current situation in particular feels like it would make an exceptional questline in a theoretical New Vegas 2. The NCR gets dealt a slightly weaker hand in terms of screen time, but that’s more than compensated for by the way they’re utilized as part of The Ghoul’s story—these factions enrich the journeys of the main characters rather than exist as significant players themselves, which ultimately serves the narrative better.
Mr. House Always Wins
There is one New Vegas figurehead that does get substantial spotlight, though: Robert House. The primary antagonist of the pre-apocalypse flashbacks, he’s played to slimy perfection by Justin Theroux, who clearly relishes every moment of screen time. Fallout keeps its cards close to its chest regarding House’s ultimate motives, and while fans will already know his general deal, the involvement of The Ghoul’s former self—Hollywood star Cooper Howard—means there’s still plenty of original, unpredictable material interacting with the established lore. The flashback sequences continue to be some of the show’s strongest material, and the way they parallel and inform the present-day story demonstrates sophisticated storytelling.
Character Work That Shines
The Ghoul is given substantially more depth this time around, with rare-but-vital flashes of vulnerability that make him even more compelling. There’s a stronger sense of connection between The Ghoul and Cooper, emphasized by smart crosscutting of scenes across the timeline that help draw parallels and establish contrast between the man he was and the monster he’s become. Goggins is, as before, exceptional at portraying both sides, but he’s particularly powerful during the flashback sequences, where he’s forced to wrestle with his wife’s involvement in the looming apocalypse, and how he could play a role in stopping it… if only he gives into a more violent path. These moments provide emotional weight that elevates the entire season.
In our review of Season 1, we found Maximus to be Fallout‘s most compelling lead, as his deep flaws made him the show’s most complex character. That continues to be true in Season 2, where Maximus’ weaknesses see him crushed and manipulated by numerous forces, and his attempt to find some kind of redemption arc is one of the strongest throughlines. However, I suspect by the time the finale’s credits roll, The Ghoul will have ascended to become my favorite of the season, and I imagine many fans will feel the same way.
While Goggins is on track to be this year’s undisputed MVP, everyone pulls their weight admirably. Particularly enjoyable this time around is Kyle MacLachlan as Hank MacLean, whose larger, quirkier role allows him to be very, well, Kyle MacLachlan—which is exactly what fans could hope for. Any details about his activities in the Mojave wasteland are strictly off-limits in a spoiler-free review, but there’s substantial material to dig into from as early as the first episode, with fascinating links established between him, Lucy, and numerous other characters.
A World Worth Exploring
While characters remain Fallout‘s most valuable triumph, all the efforts that go into building the world around them continue to be top-shelf in this second season. The initial excitement of seeing the video games’ iconic designs rendered in live-action has admittedly mellowed, but it’s still tremendously satisfying to see the many newly realized places and creatures. Much has been made of the Deathclaw, which was teased during the credits of Season 1’s finale, and the big, bullish brute absolutely doesn’t disappoint—it’s a genuinely impressive piece of creature design that honors the games while feeling terrifyingly real.
But there are other, even nerdier joys—among them the old T-45 power armor and the television-faced Securitron robots, both lovingly built by an incredibly talented prop department that clearly understands what makes these designs iconic. There’s similar skill demonstrated by the set builders, with locations like the Lucky 38 casino and Dino Dee-lite Motel appearing exactly as fans remember. They’re not just authentically realized, but smartly employed to create a bond between show and game: I certainly got a kick out of seeing Lucy metaphorically wear the beret of New Vegas’ beloved marksman, Boone, by making a sniper’s nest in the mouth of the motel’s giant model T-Rex, Dinky. For long-time fans, these moments of recognition are absolute gold.
As with the first season, Fallout knows how to effectively wink at the camera whenever it’s doing something video game-inspired, and there are multiple excellent examples across these six episodes, such as Lucy literally walking herself through options A, B, and C when faced with a difficult situation—all of which translate to the different branching pathways of a choice-driven RPG like Fallout. Previous video game adaptations have stumbled badly when paying homage to their parent medium—see Halo‘s bizarre first-person battle sequences—so it’s genuinely wonderful to see Fallout continue to successfully remold its foundations into a new format that honors the source while standing on its own.
The Verdict
Fallout‘s second season—at least the first six episodes of it—is both a triumphant return to its uniquely bizarre post-apocalypse world and an admirably authentic adaptation of what made New Vegas distinct among its series peers. This story of warring factions, and the complex characters caught up in those conflicts, feels grander in scale than last year’s adventure but no less detailed or personal. While there are some minor missteps when it comes to the secondary vault storylines, and some plots move at a stronger pace than others, Season 2 is nonetheless shaping up to be an exceptional second chapter for Fallout.
For fans of the games, this is the adaptation you’ve been dreaming of—one that understands what made New Vegas special while charting its own course through the wasteland. For those who fell in love with Season 1, you’ll find everything you loved amplified and deepened. The performances are uniformly excellent, the world-building continues to impress, and the storytelling demonstrates real ambition without losing sight of what makes these characters compelling. Wagner and Robertson-Dworet have proven they understand this world intimately, and more importantly, they understand how to translate it to television in ways that feel authentic to both mediums.
Welcome to New Vegas, wastelanders. The house always wins, and in this case, so do we.
9/10 Stars
Fallout Season 2, Episodes 1 is currently streaming on Prime Video. Each episode will be released week by week.
