The first season of Fallout took a risk by being an adaptation that wasn’t adapting anything in particular. While the story of Lucy McLean and the Ghoul was set in the Fallout universe, it didn’t replicate the plot of any specific game. However, the final shot of Season 1 suggested this wasn’t a long-term strategy; the action is moving to New Vegas, the setting of Fallout: New Vegas.
Now, the first episode of Season 2 has made it clear that New Vegas is just the start. There were multiple references to another Fallout game throughout the episode, and the show could already be setting up Season 3.
In Season 2 Episode 1 of Fallout, we see a flashback where Cooper Howard and his daughter are driving through a suburban neighborhood that looks very familiar. It seems to be the exact same layout as the Boston neighborhood seen at the start of Fallout 4, and there’s even a cameo by the Vault-Tec salesman who visits you as you create your character.
Later, Lucy and the Ghoul encounter Vault 24 behind the projector screen of the Starlight Drive-In, another Fallout 4 location where players can build a settlement. New Vegas has its own drive-in, the California Sunset, so calling this one the Starlight is a pointed Fallout 4 reference.
Finally, in the trailer for the rest of the season shown at the end of the episode, a character mentions “the Commonwealth,” the region where Fallout 4 is set. All of these hints suggest that we’ll likely see more Fallout 4 references throughout the rest of the season, but what do they mean?
Fallout game director and executive producer Todd Howard recently revealed that Season 3 of the TV show is being written, so it’s possible these moments could be teasing a future Fallout 4-inspired adventure. Unlike New Vegas, which has a very big picture plot, Fallout 4 is the personal journey of a parent looking for their son. That makes it harder to refocus the story around Lucy MacLean, but elements of the game, like the East Coast setting and the focus on synthetic characters, are certainly up for grabs. We may only be one episode into Season 2, but it’s possible that we already know what’s coming in Season 3.
