One of many joys of Fallout as a fan is to take a seat down and deep-dive into its alternate-reality tackle United States historical past. The lore masters at Bethesda have total occasions mapped out into canon, from the liberation of Alaska from the Chinese language authorities to the recall of Teddy Concern bears in 2072 and past.
Till lately this alternate historical past has existed primarily by means of the various Fallout video video games developed by studios like Interaction Leisure, Black Isle, Bethesda, and Obsidian. However with the brand new present from Prime Video now obtainable to stream, there’s a brand new entry within the canon. We all know this as a result of IGN sat down with Bethesda Recreation Studios director Todd Howard and Fallout: The Collection govt producer Jonathan Nolan to speak about how the brand new present suits into the grand timeline of Fallout.
Spoilers for the ending of Fallout Season 1 and particulars on each Fallout recreation beneath.
How Does the Fallout Present Match into the Total Timeline?
Formally the Fallout present is ready within the yr 2296, which takes place later than some other Fallout recreation at the moment launched. For instance, Fallout 4 takes place within the yr 2287, whereas Fallout: New Vegas is ready within the yr 2281, a full 15 years previous to the occasions of the present.
Because the showrunners and Howard beforehand confirmed the present exists inside the canon of the video games, meaning occasions within the present have large lore implications for the collection. The largest might be the destiny of Shady Sands, the primary capital of the New California Republic and a key location within the Fallout video video games. Within the last episode of the primary season it’s revealed Shady Sands was destroyed by Hank MacLean, overseer of Vault 33 and secret Vault-Tec worker.
Shady Sands appeared within the very first Fallout online game set within the yr 2161 and is referenced once more in Fallout: New Vegas set within the yr 2281. However with the Fallout present going down in 2296, 15 years after the occasions of New Vegas, rather a lot can change in that point.
In accordance with Howard, showrunners Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet got here to him with the thought to explode Shady Sands, one thing Howard says shocked him at first. However the occasion would function a catalyst for the primary characters of the Fallout present and the showrunners labored with Howard and the Bethesda group to make sure it remained in step with the video games.
“And we talked by means of it and it was, ‘This may be a reasonably impactful story second that plenty of issues anchor on,”‘ Howard says.
However for anybody confused about how the town might be blown up by the point the present takes place, Howard explains all the small print of the timeline ought to line up. “We’re cautious concerning the timeline,” he says. “There could be a bit of little bit of confusion in some locations. However every thing that occurred within the earlier video games, together with New Vegas, occurred. We’re very cautious about that.”
“All I can say is we’re threading it tighter there, however the bombs fall simply after the occasions of New Vegas.”
Why Is Shady Sands a Massive Deal? Is There a Retcon?
As revealed in Episode 6 of the Fallout present, in some unspecified time in the future within the 2280s, Shady Sands is leveled by a nuclear bomb. It is revealed that Lucy MacLean’s father, Hank, bombed Shady Sands because it threatened the prevalence of Vault-Tec whose staff are nonetheless alive, albeit cryogenically frozen, and are ready to reclaim the Wasteland for themselves and their firm.
The revelation of Shady Sands’ destruction brought on a stir as the placement was nonetheless standing as lately because the occasions of Fallout: New Vegas, with some followers questioning if the present was retconning the occasions of New Vegas. In Episode 6, a chalkboard in Vault 4 depicts the recognized historical past of Shady Sands and an ambiguous date for its destruction created some confusion over when the occasion passed off. However as Howard confirmed, the occasions of the sport and present each occur, although the window of occasions is “tight.”
How Todd Howard and Jonathan Nolan Agreed on the Fallout Timeline
Howard revealed that when Bethesda first started speaking with Jonathan Nolan a few potential Fallout TV adaptation, Howard wished one thing that “Would rise up as one other entry within the collection versus retelling one of many video games we did and kind of deal with it like we do a recreation and transfer the timeline ahead and do some nice issues. And that’s what [Nolan] was pondering as effectively.”
Nolan provides that the present got down to honor the meticulous and detailed timeline arrange by Bethesda and that making a present not related to the video games was nearly a non-starter: “Everybody who labored on Fallout, all of the video games, had been so respectful and so cautious to maintain this constant universe. If we’d gone a distinct route, the present could be the one factor that doesn’t match with that universe… We didn’t wish to be in our personal personal nook of an elseworld or a distinct universe. I feel that shall be much less significant to me watching the collection, to comprehend it was fully divorced from the truth of the video games,” Nolan admits.
What Is the Full Fallout Timeline (Thus far)?
Now we all know the Fallout present is certainly canon and features up with the timeline set by the video games, listed here are the important thing occasions that mark the Fallout franchise from the primary recreation to the present.
Bombs Drop – Yr: 2077
Whereas all the historical past of Fallout takes place in an alternate historical past the place the Chilly Struggle takes dramatically completely different turns than it does in our personal actuality, the important thing second that units off the franchise is the beginning of the Nice Struggle on October 23, 2077. A end result of the Sino-American Struggle, each nation concerned within the battle was sucked right into a nuclear warfare, reworking the US and the remainder of the world into the Fallout wasteland we all know and love(?).
This occasion will be seen in each the Fallout present the place Walton Goggins’ Howard Cooper and his daughter are seen making an attempt to flee the nuclear blasts in Los Angeles, in addition to the opening moments of Fallout 4 the place the Sole Survivor and their household make their means into Vault 111 simply earlier than the bomb lands in New England.
Fallout 76 – Yr: 2102
Fallout 76 begins on October 23, 2102, or Reclamation Day because it’s recognized. 25 years after the bombs fell in the course of the Nice Struggle, Fallout 76 is the earliest recreation within the collection, with Howard even calling it a “prequel” to the opposite video games.
Set within the former state of West Virginia and now recognized merely as Appalachia, the sport stars a Vault Dweller from Vault 76 who units out to search out the lacking Overseer. Fallout 76’s model of the wasteland is very harsh given how quickly it’s after the bombs had been dropped and most of the collection’ hallmarks just like the Brotherhood of Metal and mutations have their origins explored right here.
Fallout 1 – Yr: 2161
The very first Fallout recreation is definitely the second recreation within the timeline. Set 84 years after the Nice Struggle, Fallout begins in Vault 13 in Southern California, close to Shady Sands and Vault 33 from the Fallout present.
The Vault Dweller within the first Fallout is given the easy process of discovering a brand new Water Chip for his or her Vault earlier than the Vault’s provide of unpolluted water runs out. Nevertheless, in the course of the course of this journey they arrive face-to-face with The Grasp and his military of mutants who’re bent on mutating the people below his rule.
Fallout Techniques – Yr: 2197
Fallout Techniques tells the origins of one of many Wasteland’s longest-lasting factions: The Brotherhood of Metal. When the Nice Struggle broke out, a bunch of navy males had been bunkered in a Vault-Tec Vault alongside a bunch of scientists. Nevertheless, when the navy unit discovers the scientists’ immoral experiments, they desert the military, kill the scientists, and collectively kind the Brotherhood of Metal.
Techniques follows the Brotherhood as they try to say the territory outdoors of the previous Chicago, however in the end takes them on a journey west to search out the rumored Vault 0 which homes the US’ most vital authorities, navy, and scientific leaders.
Fallout 2 – Yr: 2241
A direct sequel to the occasions in Fallout 1, Fallout 2 follows a direct descendent of the Vault Dweller from Vault 13 who was exiled and began the village of Arroyo within the Wasteland. Fallout 2 tracks the rise of the New California Republic in addition to the group generally known as the Enclave, which claims to be the true successor to the US. The Enclave briefly seems within the Fallout present because the group the scientist Siggi Wilzig escapes from with the Chilly Fusion Reactor.
Fallout 3 – Yr: 2277
Set within the East Coast close to the previous Washington D.C., Fallout 3 begins in Vault 101 and initially revolves across the Vault-Dweller’s seek for their lacking father. Whereas venturing throughout the D.C. space, a bigger plot is uncovered round a mysterious undertaking to purify the consuming water of the Potomac River, together with clashes with the Enclave from Fallout 2.
Fallout: New Vegas – Yr: 2281
Fallout: New Vegas stars a Courier tasked with delivering a bundle to New Vegas which, you guessed it, is the post-nuclear warfare successor to Las Vegas, Nevada. Nevertheless, the Courier winds up caught between a neighborhood factional warfare between the New California Republic and Ceasar’s Legions that threatens to destabilize all the area.
And as Howard tells IGN, Shady Sands is destroyed someday after the occasions of Fallout: New Vegas.
Fallout 4 – Yr: 2287
Set in a area generally known as the Commonwealth, which includes most of pre-war New England, Fallout 4 follows the Sole Survivor of Vault 111 who units out looking for their lacking child. Alongside the best way, gamers will encounter new factions just like the Minutemen and The Institute in addition to acquainted Wasteland staples like The Brotherhood of Metal.
The first focus of Fallout 4 is round a brand new know-how known as Synths – humanlike machines who’ve since gained sentience, supposedly after quite a few generations had been created post-Nice Struggle.
Fallout TV Present – Yr: 2296
Lastly, we now have the occasions in Fallout: The Collection. Much like the plot of Fallout 3, Prime Video’s Fallout present follows Lucy MacLean as she units out from Vault 33 into the Wasteland to search out her kidnapped father, the overseer Hank MacLean. Nevertheless, because the collection continues we uncover the reality behind not solely the occasions main as much as The Nice Struggle in 2077, but in addition what occurred to the town of Shady Sands and the unique Vault-Tec.
That is the whole timeline of Fallout from each the video games and the present as confirmed by Todd Howard. With Fallout 5 already confirmed as a recreation Howard and Bethesda wish to finally make, who is aware of the place the way forward for the collection will go? Particularly if Prime Video additionally greenlights a second season of Fallout: The Collection.
For extra from us on the good large Fallout wasteland, take a look at IGN’s full interview with Todd Howard and Jonathan Nolan.
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s Senior Options Editor. You may attain him @lawoftd.