Amazon’s Fallout TV series is one of the best gaming adaptations in history, introducing an original story that takes place 15 years after Fallout: New Vegas. Fans feared it contradicts some aspects of the game’s lore, but Bethesda CEO Todd Howard chimed in to clear things up.
Howard closely monitored the Fallout TV show’s production as one of its executive producers. Prior to its release, he often said the show is canon and doesn’t go against any of the established lore. To quell fans’ concerns, on April 17, he clarified how an event from the show blends in with Fallout lore. Beware, as spoilers follow.
In episode six of Fallout, one of the main characters, Lucy, explores Vault 4. She discovers what seems like a history classroom where a timeline of the New California Republic is illustrated on a chalkboard.
The writing on the board says “The Fall of Shady Sands” happened in 2277, four years prior to the events of Fallout: New Vegas. This annoyed fans because Shady Sands was the first capital of the NCR, and there’s no mention of its demise in-game. This is where Todd stepped in to provide clarity.
“We’re careful about the timeline. There might be a little bit of confusion in some places. But everything that happened in the previous games, including New Vegas, happened. We’re very careful about that. All I can say is we’re threading it tighter there, but the bombs fall just after the events of New Vegas,” Howard told IGN.
This means the explosion that obliterated Shady Sands and most of its citizens took place after New Vegas, which is set in 2281. For fans of the franchise, it makes a lot of sense, since the NCR is a major political party in the game, whereas the TV series portrays it as almost extinct. We’ll likely get to know more in Fallout season two.
