Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for the Fallout Season 2 premiere and Fallout: New Vegas.
Fallout is unique among video game adaptations because it follows canon but tells an original story involving new characters. The freedom to go in unexpected directions was part of the reason that the show became one of Prime Video’s biggest hits ever, but Fallout Season 2 is developing deeper connections to the games through the introduction of Justin Theroux‘s Robert House, an enigmatic inventor and ruler of New Vegas. Although the character might be familiar to those who encountered him in Fallout: New Vegas, the debut episode of the new season hints at some dangerous technology that he’s acquired, which could change the course of the show moving forward.
Season 2 picks up shortly after the previous season’s finale, with Lucy (Ella Purnell) teaming up with the Ghoul (Walton Goggins) to search for her father, Hank McLean (Kyle MacLachlan), who has fled to Vegas. Alongside House, Hank is connected to a larger scheme involving mind control; the premiere’s cold open revolves around a flashback sequence involving a strange device, and Hank is seen experimenting with similar mind control tech when he makes his way to an abandoned Vault-Tec facility. Although these two characters have yet to encounter one another, their shared interest in controlling human behavior could be Fallout’s most dangerous threat yet.
‘Fallout’ Season 2 Is Hinting at a Deep Backstory for Justin Theroux’s Robert House
Robert House has a fascinating backstory in Fallout: New Vegas as a brilliant technocrat and leader of RobCo Industries who was able to survive the Great War thanks to the development of a hibernation chamber that allowed him to remain safe before reemerging to take over New Vegas. House’s end goal is to have complete and unfiltered control over the human race, which explains why he would be interested in tech that literally weaponizes unsuspecting victims into doing his command. Although it’s established in the game that he used his power of influence to create a city-state and eventually form a deal with the New California Republic, the series could explain how House managed to acquire his power. The trailers have already hinted that House will encounter the Ghoul at some point in the past, and may potentially know what happened to his family.
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House’s whereabouts in the present timeline are unclear, but Lucy and the Ghoul have witnessed a few botched experiments that presumably failed when they began their investigation into Vault 24. They’ve been following the trail of Hank, who later references the fact that the brain-computer interface implant chip has been miniaturized, making it potentially more lethal. The games indicate that it was House’s strategic mind and brilliant planning that allowed him to amass his own sphere of influence, but the series seemingly confirms that, at some point, Hank had been working on the weapons that he helped to develop. Whether House has moved on to a different method of domination or is still utilizing the implant chips remains to be seen.
Could Hank McLean Actually Be an Obscure ‘Fallout’ Game Character?
The plot of Fallout’s Season 2 is primarily adapted from events that occurred in Fallout: New Vegas, but “The Innovator” has a niche reference to a villain from Fallout 3 that players may have encountered had they entered the Red Racer facility. An antagonist known as “The Surgeon” is developing mind control experiments by testing them on ghouls and other mutants, which frequently results in heads exploding, similar to House’s victim in the season’s opening scene. Although the Red Racer category is located in Washington, D.C., and is featured in a game set in 2277, Fallout’s second season takes place in 2296, making it possible that Hank had previously been to different parts of the country. Hank wasn’t thought to have been a character that originated in the games, but there’s nothing about his established backstory that would contradict the revelation that he is the Surgeon. At the same time, this could easily have been a reference to a prior game that should only be regarded as an Easter egg.
Whether he is the Surgeon or not, Hank’s role as a primary antagonist of Fallout Season 2 is a smart creative move because his ultimate fate is still unknown. It also has greater emotional power because of how it inverts the premise of the previous season; while Lucy had previously scoured the Wasteland with the intention of saving her father, she is now teaming up with her former adversary to ensure that Hank’s schemes are put to an end. Even if Hank attempts to justify his actions to Lucy with the excuse that he was trying to protect her, he might find himself facing an uphill battle in explaining why he would choose to align himself with someone as cruel and greedy as House.
The very notion of controlling one’s mind is thematically tied to all three of Fallout’s main characters; Lucy is able to escape from the lies that kept her in the Vaults, Maximus (Aaron Moten) must decide whether he will accept the dogmatic methodology of the Brotherhood, and the Ghoul’s previous persona, Cooper Howard, rebelled against the ways in which his image was hijacked in order to push Vault-Tec’s agenda. If individuality is the ultimate force for good in Fallout, it makes sense that a device that renders one powerless to make decisions would be the ultimate threat.