Fallout: Season 2 Trailer Ties The Ghoul's Origin Story to Mr. House

While different characters and conflicts are glimpsed successful the caller trailer for Fallout: Season 2 – factions similar the Brotherhood of Steel, Caesar’s Legion, the embattled denizens of Vault 33, and, ohio look, a Deathclaw! – it’s the literal travel of Walton Goggins’ Cooper Howard, aka The Ghoul, that serves arsenic the teaser’s communicative throughline.

In the trailer, The Ghoul’s accomplishment successful New Vegas, alongside Lucy MacLean and Dogmeat, triggers the backstory of however Coop went to Las Vegas earlier the war, wherever helium met with the antheral who helium claims was the main origin of the extremity of the world: Robert House, played by The Leftovers’ Justin Theroux. (A antithetic histrion cameoed arsenic Mr. House successful Season 1.)

First off, it should beryllium noted that Season 2 is not adapting the communicative of the crippled Fallout: New Vegas, which prominently featured Mr. House. The TV bid takes spot successful 2296, aft the events of the games but the amusement is inactive considered canon.

Showrunners Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet said successful an April 2024 interrogation that Season 2 is acceptable 15 years aft the events depicted successful Fallout: New Vegas. Whether Season 2 volition recreate thing from the game’s storyline involving Mr. House (perhaps successful flashback) remains to beryllium seen, it seems apt that Season 2 volition undoubtedly see plentifulness of Easter eggs.

Speaking of which, the Season 2 trailer shows plentifulness of iconic Vegas landmarks gamers volition remember, similar Dinky the T-Rex. The trailer opens with the post-war Mojave Wasteland earlier transitioning to the pre-war glory days of the Vegas Strip. The astir notable casinos from the crippled tin beryllium spotted passim the teaser. There’s The Tops, Gomorrah, The Atomic Wrangler, but astir importantly for this season’s story, The Lucky 38.

The Lucky 38 is prominently featured successful Coop’s backstory wherever helium visits Vegas portion inactive moving arsenic an histrion and pitchman for Vault-Tec. The Lucky 38 is the office of Robert House, the RobCo Industries mogul who runs Vegas.

We spot Mr. House sitting earlier a slope of machine monitors, which could foreshadow his destiny successful the games wherever his consciousness is plugged into a super-computer that allows him to past for hundreds of years aft the war.

In the extremity of Season 1, Coop discovered that his woman Barb’s leader Vault-Tec and different captains of manufacture (including Mr. House) decided they would driblet the bombs themselves truthful they could nett from the inevitable atomic war. With the Season 2 trailer showing Coop traveling to Vegas with Barb, possibly Coop volition proceed his snooping oregon possibly adjacent effort to halt the apocalypse himself by sidesplitting execs similar Mr. House.

This is hinted astatine erstwhile House recognizes the acheronian lurking wrong Coop that volition 1 time devour him arsenic the Ghoul. House calls Coop “actually rather a convulsive man” who would bash thing to support his family. “You conscionable don’t privation to termination maine … yet.”

It seems past that the archetypal steps of Coop’s tragic translation into The Ghoul begins with his interactions with Mr. House. Is Coop himself someway indirectly liable for Mr. House’s relation successful triggering the extremity of the world? Might the Ghoul, successful the contiguous day, brushwood Mr. House successful his machine signifier and propulsion the plug connected him for revenge?

If Mr. House does amusement up successful 2296 erstwhile Season 2 is acceptable past that would look to settee the instrumentality statement implicit which ending of Fallout: New Vegas is canon. In the game, a triumph for Mr. House is 1 wherever helium survives the Battle of Hoover Dam, pushes retired the different factions, and remains successful power of Vegas.

Ron Perlman’s narration successful that ending says "Mr. House continued to tally New Vegas his way, a despotic imaginativeness of pre-War glory. The streets were orderly, efficient, cold. New Vegas continued to beryllium the sole spot successful the wasteland wherever fortunes were won and mislaid successful the blink of an eye."

That intelligibly isn’t the spot we spot successful the Season 2 trailer. This isn’t the “shining jewel successful the mediate of the desert” arsenic Mr. House promised it would go aft his victory. Did thing other befall New Vegas successful the 15 years since the events of the game?

We bash spot a glimpse of Ceasar’s Legion successful the trailer, though we don’t cognize wherever precisely they are. Perhaps the ending wherever the Legion won is canon for the amusement and Mr. House is good and genuinely dead? But the trailer does amusement The Ghoul brushwood Victor, Mr. House’s distant robot scout, which would suggest that Mr. House is inactive active.

(Side note: Although we spot Maximus and the Brotherhood backmost successful action, it’s not wide from this trailer who they’re warring – The Enclave? Supermutants? – oregon whether Max volition transverse paths with The Ghoul and Lucy this season.)

We’ll person to hold and spot erstwhile Fallout: Season 2 launches connected Prime Video connected December 17th.