‘Fallout’ Season 2: Everything We Know So Far

While many video game adaptations have struggled to translate the source material, Amazon struck gold with its new Fallout TV series, finding its very own The Last of Us moment. The show’s deft blend of the franchise’s trademark dark humour, evocative wasteland atmosphere, quirky characters, and a precariously balanced world has cemented its status as a post-apocalyptic powerhouse.

The series’ scorching success led Prime Video to greenlight Fallout season two, just a week after season one’s premiere.

But now, six months after the show first launched, we’re no closer to knowing when we’ll see the wasteland on screen again. In fact, according to rumour, it’s now likely that Fallout’s next season won’t drop until some time in 2026. That might be a bitter pill to swallow for fans of the show, but with where the show is heading next, you’d want them to do it right.

But what’s in store for the upcoming season, and who will join the irradiated ensemble cast? Here’s all we know about what is or may be coming in Fallout Season 2.

Has Fallout Season 2 Started Filming?

While it’s been around six months since Amazon announced the popular post-apocalyptic show would get a second season, we haven’t heard anything official since. In fact, most info we’ve gotten have been from cast or production members, who’ve thankfully been fairly candid in their answers.

Ella Purnell, who plays one of the shows protagonists, Lucy, recently said she still hadn’t seen a script for the second season and added that she doesn’t even know if she’s returning to the role. It’s pretty fair to say that she is, given that in an interview with GQ, showrunners Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet said they’re excited to explore Lucy’s reasons for pursuing her father in the upcoming season.

Given that Hollywood has suffered multiple strikes in the past six months, it’s not a huge surprise that production stalled. It appears that filming will kick off in November 2024, according to an interview with ScreenRant, though how that will translate to an actual release date isn’t clear.

However, we do know Fallout season two will be filmed in California, a shift from New York and Utah where season one was filmed. In fact, even before season two was officially greenlit, it was reported that Prime Video had been granted USD$153 million (or AUD$234 million) in qualified expenditures by the California Film Commission, suggesting a shift from New York and Utah.

Fallout Season 2 Cast Expectations

Fallout season two is expected to see the return of its core cast, including Ella Purnell as Lucy, Aaron Moten as Maximus, and Walton Goggins as the Ghoul. Sarita Choudhury’s Lee Moldaver, who died in the series finale, will likely not return for the second season but could have a few cameo appearances via past sequences or flashbacks. The remaining cast members, including Kyle MacLachlan, Moisés Arias, Michael Emerson, Leslie Uggams, Frances Turner, Dave Register, Zach Cherry, Johnny Pemberton, Rodrigo Luzzi, Annabel O’Hagan, and Xelia Mendes-Jones, are all expected to return for the second season. 

Fallout season two may also introduce new characters to the narrative, with Breaking Bad‘s Aaron Paul floated as a possible addition. Showrunner and producer Jonathan Nolan, who previously worked with Paul on Westworld, mentioned that Paul is a big fan of the show.

When asked if anyone had reached out about joining the cast, Nolan offered a cryptic response, saying, “Aaron Paul was at the premiere, a human being I love so much. And he was very polite. He was very enthusiastic about the show. There was sort of an unspoken kind of like, ‘What’s up, man?'” Who knows, maybe Aaron Paul will find his way to the wasteland after all.

Here’s a full Fallout season two cast predi ction, though future announcements may alter this lineup.

• Ella Purnell as Lucy MacLean
• Aaron Moten as Maximus
• Walton Goggins as The Ghoul/Cooper Howard
• Kyle MacLachlan as Hank MacLean
• Moisés Arias as Norm MacLean
• Xelia Mendes-Jones as Dane
• Johnny Pemberton as Thaddeus
• Frances Turner as Barb Howard
• Leslie Uggams as Betty Pearson

What We Think Season 2 of Fallout Will Be About

There is no official synopsis for Fallout season two yet, so we can only guess what the plot for the upcoming instalment will be. Piecing together some clues from season one, it looks like the action might shift to the desert metropolis of New Vegas, the only major city ‘relatively’ untouched by the nuclear devastation that ravaged North America. The biggest easter egg pointing toward the possibility of a New Vegas setting is the season one finale where Kyle’s Hank can be seen checking out a skyline that looks a lot like New Vegas.

And if that’s not enough, the end credits give us a big clue too, teasing the New Vegas’ Strip, zipping past the Tops Casino, and end with a shiny new sign that reads, “Welcome to Fabulous New Vegas.”

Showrunner Nolan himself previously hinted at his desire to explore “one locale in particular close to my heart” he’d love to explore if the show got a thumbs-up for Fallout season two. “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,” said Nolan before the renewal news.

Even Graham Wagner, one of the co-showrunners, acknowledged that certain key elements of the Fallout franchise were intentionally reserved for future seasons. He explained, “We wanted to get Deathclaws, but we didn’t want to just throw it away. It’s such a monumental piece. We want to save something for season two to be able to do it properly, not just added on to the massive world building we had to do already in season one. So season two, we’re very excited to finally tackle one of the most iconic elements of the games.”

How Does Fallout Season 1 End?

Based on Bethesda’s popular video game franchise, Fallout season one takes place 200 years after the “Great War of 2077,” a nuclear conflict triggered by dwindling resources, and follows Lucy MacLean, a former Vault dweller, who has known no life beyond the confines of Vault 33 is forced to leave her so-called home to find and rescue her father. Along the way, she encounters Maximus, a soldier seeking order amidst the chaos, and Walton Goggins’ The Ghoul, a seasoned bounty hunter familiar with the harsh realities beyond the Vaults.

Fallout season one ends with Lucy finally tracking down her father, Overseer Hank (played by Kyle MacLachlan), who is being held captive by the villainous Lee Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury). Lucy learns about her father’s origins and history when Choudhury’s Moldaver reveals that Hank was a former Vault-Tec employee who had been cryogenically frozen and reanimated hundreds of years later. She even lets out that Hank was the one who killed Lucy’s mother and that he was responsible for the nuclear bombing of Shady Sands, which turned Rose (Lucy’s mother) into a feral ghoul.

The season finale culminates with Hank’s dramatic escape in Maximus’ formidable power armour as he soars away amidst the chaotic clash between the Brotherhood of Steel and Moldaver’s New California Republic raiders. Believing his family might still be alive, The Ghoul aka Howard offers to guide Lucy east to find Hank, who he thinks might lead him to them.

Fallout season one wrapped up with a flurry of revelations and unresolved threads. Lucy’s quest to rescue her father, Overseer Hank, from the clutches of Lee Moldaver reached a climax, revealing shocking truths about Hank’s past involvement with Vault-Tec and the origins of the devastating nuclear war. Season one, also doesn’t reveal what happened to Lucy’s brother, Norm, who discovers the secrets of Vault 31, finding out his father’s secret and Vault-Tec’s cryogenically stored Junior executives, overseen by the cyborg brain-on-wheels of Bud, who traps him in Vault 31. With Lucy and The Ghoul uniting in their pursuit of justice against Vault-Tec along with the hint of New Vegas on the horizon, it’s clear their journey is far from over.

Where to Watch Fallout?

If you’re craving some post-apocalyptic fix, then season one of Fallout has you covered. With all eight gripping episodes now streaming exclusively on Prime Video, you can plunge headfirst into a world ravaged by nuclear war and binge-watch at your leisure.