UPDATE: Fallout season 2 is happening! The news was confirmed on Thursday, April 18, so we were right to predict that Amazon would be bringing it back for more.
It's no surprise, really: the Fallout TV show is assuredly a hit. Critics and viewers heaped praise on the Prime Video live-action video game adaptation, and it's gone down well with franchise veterans and newcomers alike, becoming the streamer's most-watched season globally since The Rings of Power season 1 landed back in 2022.
"Praise be to our insanely brilliant showrunners, Geneva [Robertson-Dworet] and Graham [Wagner], to our kick-ass cast, to Todd and James and all the legends at Bethesda, and to Jen, Vernon and the amazing team at Amazon for their incredible support of this show,” Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy of Kilter Films said in a joint statement. “We can’t wait to blow up the world all over again."
Unlike HBO's ultra-faithful take on The Last Of Us, the first season opted to tell a new story within Fallout's post-apocalyptic universe, one involving a core trio of survivors who hail from different parts of irradiated California. On its own, season one functions as a pretty good sample of what the Wasteland has to offer... but we're glad the show's coming back for more.
Below, you can find some of the reasons we were sure that the Fallout TV show would be back for more before we got the good news. Be warned, there are major spoilers from Fallout episode 8 and the season as a whole below. So, don't read on if you don't want anything ruined just yet. And here's how to watch the Fallout TV show if you've yet to join in on the hype.
Five reasons we were sure Fallout was coming back
Reason #1: The crew had already discussed what's coming next
In an interview with TheWrap, Fallout executive producer Jonathan Nolan revealed that the show's future beyond season 1 was part of the discussion from the early stages.
"The challenge, especially with television, is in success, the hope that you get to go again", Nolan said. "But I think the reality is your best strategy is to concentrate on making a terrific season and television [sic] and if there's an opportunity to keep going, and there's sufficient interest, then you get a chance to keep going.
"At the same, you'd be remiss, almost irresponsible, to not have started to talk about where your story could take you. So we have been talking from the beginning about how this would develop and evolve in subsequent seasons if we should be so lucky."
In the same interview, co-showrunner Graham Wagner also stated that they'd purposefully held back some "iconic elements" from the franchise so they could do them justice. One of those iconic creatures was teased in the show's final moments (more on that below).
Reason #2: A relocation announcement already hinted a renewal was coming
Just days before the show was released, Variety announced that the series had been awarded $25 million in California tax credits to relocate to the Golden State for its second season. The first season shot in New York, Utah and Namibia, and whilst this isn't a guarantee that season 2 is happening, it's a pretty good sign.
If you're interested in learning about some of the real places that were used to represent the LA Wasteland, production designer Howard Cummings talked us through some of the real-life Fallout locations that appeared in the show.
Reason #3: The show potentially teased a big announcement's on the way in November
The Fallout TV show is loaded with Easter eggs and references for die-hard fans to spot. But one in particular suggests that there could well be a big Fallout announcement coming soon.
Fallout episode 6 opens with Cooper Howard filming an ad spot for the franchise's infamous Vaults in a facsimile of Vault 4. During the commercial, a phone number appears on-screen which Howard encourages viewers to dial to secure a spot in one of Vault-Tec's facilities.
As reported by IGN, fans have contacted the number in real life and are hard at work deciphering what, if anything, they have uncovered. According to users on social media, messaging that number gets you a response "from" Vault-Tec, which reads:
"Thank you for texting Vault-Tec. The next available appointment is 33 weeks from now, please stand by." Whilst we now know this can't be another season announcement (unless season 3 gets the go-ahead really early), this could still mean some sort of big announcement is coming on or around Friday, November 29, which would be 33 weeks from the show's April 10 release date.
Exciting though this is, there's every chance that the 33-week timeframe is a nod back to Vault 33, which is the facility Lucy hails from. We'll have to wait and see, for now.
Oh and FYI: dialing the number sounds like a far less pleasant experience. Viewers report hearing screaming on the other end until the call connects. Given what actually happened in the Vaults, that's probably no surprise.
Text it also pic.twitter.com/gRb11VzuQ5April 12, 2024
Reason #4: We've already had a taste of what's to come
We're really moving into spoiler territory now, folks: this is your final warning.
Wagner mentioned that some of the franchise's "iconic elements" had been kept back (including Deathclaws) and we were teased with a couple of them in the show's final moments. After Lucy learns the truth about her father, Hank, and his connection to Vault-Tec and she refuses to return home with him, Hank flies away in a suit of purloined Power Armor.
He's also the very last person we see in the show. Set against a baking sun, he'd marched into what must be the Mojave Wasteland. Stepping past the skull of a Deathclaw — the apex predator of the Fallout world, and a creature we'd not seen in the show until this point — Hank looks out into the desert, with the city of New Vegas coming into view.
Surely the show wouldn't tease both one of the most recognizable foes and the primary setting of one of the very best installments in one final scene and then not go on to bring them to life? Well, now we're getting a second season, let's hope New Vegas and the Mojave Wasteland is our next destination.
Reason #5: Unanswered questions
Fallout's first season does tie up the narrative pretty well, though we'd be remiss to highlight some of the obvious set-ups, omissions, and lingering questions we have from season one.
For one thing, we have no real idea how much of a role the Enclave will have going forward. They're a key faction in the games, but they're only mentioned a handful of times in the show, always in relation to Dr. Siggi Wilzig. He defected from the faction, and his head ended up being the thing everyone wanted to get their hands on throughout the show. Will the Enclave — or other Fallout factions, like Caesar's Legion — rear their heads in the future?
The series also revealed something pretty seismic for Fallout canon more broadly: Vault-Tec was responsible for dropping the bombs to try and establish total control over the human race. Lucy learned all about their role in the Great War at the end of the season, and she set out from Griffith Observatory to "meet her makers" with The Ghoul after the climactic battle. Surely this plot thread will be picked up in the future? Maybe our unlikely duo will be confronting the heads of Vault-Tec or some of the other company executives who have an iron grip on the world?
Likewise, Maximus seemed to have some serious doubts over whether allowing the Brotherhood to have access to Moldaver's cold fusion device was a good thing for the future of the Wasteland. Maybe season 2 will see him defecting?
There's tons more that could be unpacked from this show, too. Will Lucy and Maximus ever be reunited? How did Lee Moldaver stay alive as long as she did? What's Maximus' former Squire Thaddeus up to now he's a ghoul? And that's all before we venture to new parts of the Wasteland (or delve into new Vaults), which the show clearly wants to do. Hopefully, we'll get some answers to these questions when the series returns.
All eight episodes of the Fallout TV show are now streaming on Prime Video. The series has now been officially renewed for a second instalment.
