Certainly one of the joys of Fallout as a fan is to sit down down and deep-dive into its alternate-reality tackle United States historical past. The lore masters at Bethesda have whole 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 just lately this alternate historical past has existed primarily by the many Fallout video video games developed by studios like Interaction Leisure, Black Isle, Bethesda, and Obsidian. However with the new present from Prime Video now accessible to stream, there’s a brand new entry in the canon. We all know this as a result of IGN sat down with Bethesda Recreation Studios director Todd Howard and Fallout: The Sequence government producer Jonathan Nolan to speak about how the new present suits into the grand timeline of Fallout.
Spoilers for the ending of Fallout Season 1 and particulars on each Fallout sport under.
How Does the Fallout Show Match into the Total Timeline?
Formally the Fallout present is about in the yr 2296, which takes place later than every other Fallout sport presently launched. For instance, Fallout 4 takes place in the yr 2287, whereas Fallout: New Vegas is about in the yr 2281, a full 15 years previous to the occasions of the present.
Since the showrunners and Howard beforehand confirmed the present exists inside the canon of the video games, which means occasions in the present have massive lore implications for the sequence. The largest might be the destiny of Shady Sands, the first capital of the New California Republic and a key location in the Fallout video video games. In the ultimate episode of the first season it’s revealed Shady Sands was destroyed by Hank MacLean, overseer of Vault 33 and secret Vault-Tec worker.
Shady Sands appeared in the very first Fallout online game set in the yr 2161 and is referenced once more in Fallout: New Vegas set in the yr 2281. However with the Fallout present happening in 2296, 15 years after the occasions of New Vegas, lots can change in that point.
In line with Howard, showrunners Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet got here to him with the concept to explode Shady Sands, one thing Howard says shocked him at first. However the occasion would function a catalyst for the foremost characters of the Fallout present and the showrunners labored with Howard and the Bethesda staff to make sure it remained per the video games.
“And we talked by it and it was, ‘This could be a fairly impactful story second that plenty of issues anchor on,”‘ Howard says.
However for anybody confused about how the metropolis may very well be blown up by the time the present takes place, Howard explains all the particulars of the timeline ought to line up. “We’re cautious about the timeline,” he says. “There is perhaps just a little little bit of confusion in some locations. However all the pieces that occurred in 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 Large Deal? Is There a Retcon?
As revealed in Episode 6 of the Fallout present, in some unspecified time in the future in 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 superiority of Vault-Tec whose workers are nonetheless alive, albeit cryogenically frozen, and are ready to reclaim the Wasteland for themselves and their firm.
The revelation of Shady Sands’ destruction triggered a stir as the location was nonetheless standing as just lately as 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 identified historical past of Shady Sands and an ambiguous date for its destruction created some confusion over when the occasion came about. 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 couple of potential Fallout TV adaptation, Howard wished one thing that “Would rise up as one other entry in the sequence versus retelling one in every of the video games we did and kind of deal with it like we do a sport and transfer the timeline ahead and do some nice issues. And that’s what [Nolan] was considering as properly.”
Nolan provides that the present got down to honor the meticulous and detailed timeline arrange by Bethesda and that making a present not linked to the video games was virtually a non-starter: “Everybody who labored on Fallout, all the video games, have been so respectful and so cautious to maintain this constant universe. If we’d gone a unique path, the present can be the solely factor that doesn’t match with that universe… We didn’t wish to be in our personal non-public nook of an elseworld or a unique universe. I believe that can be much less significant to me watching the sequence, to comprehend it was fully divorced from the actuality of the video games,” Nolan admits.
What Is the Full Fallout Timeline (To date)?
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 key occasions that mark the Fallout franchise from the first sport to the present.
Bombs Drop – Yr: 2077
Whereas the whole historical past of Fallout takes place in an alternate historical past the place the Chilly Conflict takes dramatically totally different turns than it does in our personal actuality, the key second that units off the franchise is the begin of the Nice Conflict on October 23, 2077. A fruits of the Sino-American Conflict, each nation concerned in the battle was sucked right into a nuclear battle, remodeling the United States and the remainder of the world into the Fallout wasteland we all know and love(?).
This occasion could 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 approach 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 identified. 25 years after the bombs fell throughout the Nice Conflict, Fallout 76 is the earliest sport in the sequence, with Howard even calling it a “prequel” to the different video games.
Set in the former state of West Virginia and now identified merely as Appalachia, the sport stars a Vault Dweller from Vault 76 who units out to seek out the lacking Overseer. Fallout 76’s model of the wasteland is particularly harsh given how quickly it’s after the bombs have been dropped and lots of of the sequence’ hallmarks like the Brotherhood of Metal and mutations have their origins explored right here.
Fallout 1 – Yr: 2161
The very first Fallout sport is definitely the second sport in the timeline. Set 84 years after the Nice Conflict, Fallout begins in Vault 13 in Southern California, close to Shady Sands and Vault 33 from the Fallout present.
The Vault Dweller in the first Fallout is given the easy job of discovering a brand new Water Chip for his or her Vault earlier than the Vault’s provide of unpolluted water runs out. Nonetheless, throughout 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 beneath his rule.
Fallout Ways – Yr: 2197
Fallout Ways tells the origins of one in every of the Wasteland’s longest-lasting factions: The Brotherhood of Metal. When the Nice Conflict broke out, a gaggle of navy males have been bunkered in a Vault-Tec Vault alongside a gaggle of scientists. Nonetheless, when the navy unit discovers the scientists’ immoral experiments, they desert the military, kill the scientists, and collectively kind the Brotherhood of Metal.
Ways follows the Brotherhood as they try to assert the territory outdoors of the former Chicago, however in the end takes them on a journey west to seek out the rumored Vault 0 which homes the United States’ most necessary 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 in the Wasteland. Fallout 2 tracks the rise of the New California Republic in addition to the group often called the Enclave, which claims to be the true successor to the United States. The Enclave briefly seems in the Fallout present as the group the scientist Siggi Wilzig escapes from with the Chilly Fusion Reactor.
Fallout 3 – Yr: 2277
Set in the East Coast close to the former Washington D.C., Fallout 3 begins in Vault 101 and initially revolves round the Vault-Dweller’s seek for their lacking father. Whereas venturing throughout the D.C. space, a bigger plot is uncovered round a mysterious venture 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 package deal to New Vegas which, you guessed it, is the post-nuclear battle successor to Las Vegas, Nevada. Nonetheless, the Courier winds up caught between an area factional battle between the New California Republic and Ceasar’s Legions that threatens to destabilize the whole 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 often called the Commonwealth, which includes most of pre-war New England, Fallout 4 follows the Sole Survivor of Vault 111 who units out searching for their lacking child. Alongside the approach, gamers will encounter new factions 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 have been created post-Nice Conflict.
Fallout TV Show – Yr: 2296
Lastly, we’ve got the occasions in Fallout: The Sequence. Just 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 seek out her kidnapped father, the overseer Hank MacLean. Nonetheless, as the sequence continues we uncover the fact behind not solely the occasions main as much as The Nice Conflict in 2077, but in addition what occurred to the metropolis of Shady Sands and the unique Vault-Tec.
That is the full timeline of Fallout from each the video games and the present as confirmed by Todd Howard. With Fallout 5 already confirmed as a sport Howard and Bethesda wish to finally make, who is aware of the place the way forward for the sequence will go? Particularly if Prime Video additionally greenlights a second season of Fallout: The Sequence.
For extra from us on the nice massive 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 possibly can attain him @lawoftd.