Non-Bethesda Fallout Fans May Expect Even More Lore Changes in Season 2
Fallout 2/New Vegas writer Chris Avellone believes Bethesda is "trying to make the West their own."
The Ghoul serum, Shady Sands' position on the map and its ultimate fate, Vault-Tec starting the nuclear war, the Enclave surviving, the West Coast BoS being powerful again, power armor suddenly having major weaknesses, the NCR collapsing from the largest post-war nation into a band of raiders in just a few years – it may have captured the vibe pretty well, but there's no denying that Amazon's TV adaptation of Fallout has done to the series' lore what Caesar's Legion did to Nipton residents.
Amazon
With the second season just a week away, and with it shaping up to act as a de facto continuation of the story told in Fallout: New Vegas – the entry with by far the most Bethesda-disliking fans – the prevailing fear in the FNV community right now is that S2 will bring yet another wave of lore changes, retcons, and contradictions that overwrite the events of their favorite game, potentially rendering the entire story of Courier 6 non-canon.
Chris Avellone, writer of Fallout 2 and New Vegas and co-founder of Obsidian, has recently addressed this concern, agreeing that Amazon's show – combined with Todd Howard declaring its events canonical – could be an attempt to decanonize non-Bethesda Fallout installments, adding that this is part of the studio's marketing strategy for the franchise.
In an easy-to-miss Bluesky thread (spotted by EnclaveEmily), Avellone said he believes Bethesda is "trying to make the West their own" through Amazon's adaptation, suggesting that in previous years, they avoided using the setting of Fallout 1, 2, and New Vegas to prevent a stronger backlash from fans. He clarified, however, that he personally doesn't see Bethesda's internal directive of "making Fallout their own" as something bad.
"This became apparent in a discussion about Deathclaw concept art several years back – an artist at Bethesda was showcasing some Deathclaw variants, I think," commented Avellone. "When it was brought up, it was kind of cool that those concepts were rooted in older lore (a plus), the answer was akin to, 'Yeah, but this is my Deathclaw, and I didn't incorporate any of that.' It's also likely why Shady Sands got nuked."
Amazon
That said, a recent comment Avellone made on Twitter casts doubt on his "I don't even mean that negatively" stance, as it can easily be read as a subtle dig at the current state of the Fallout series – worded incredibly carefully to avoid any potential "don't criticize Fallout too harsly" clauses he may or may not have in his departure contract with Microsoft, the owner of both Bethesda and Obsidian.
When asked whether he was among the New Vegas developers Todd Howard invited to the Season 2 set, Avellone replied with a slightly altered line from Ozymandias instead of providing a straight answer, hinting that: a) he wasn't invited and b) in his view, the second season is bound to turn Obsidian's masterpiece into a colossal Wreck, boundless and bare.
While this interpretation could be completely off, it's worth noting that Avellone was one of the few to actually criticize Fallout Season 1, unlike the series' other founding fathers – Fallout creator Tim Cain, who wholeheartedly praised the adaptation, and New Vegas director Josh Sawyer, who showed complete disinterest in how Bethesda handles the series' canon.
As for what Bethesda itself says about Season 2's handling of New Vegas' lore, that's... a bit complicated, actually.
Back when the aforementioned concerns first arose after Season 1's ending, Emil Pagliarulo, Bethesda's Studio Design Director, tried to quash rumors that the show would cut FNV from canon by posting a timeline for the franchise on his Twitter, with New Vegas prominently featured there. Since then, however, Pagliarulo has deleted his entire page – and with it the timeline – making it uncertain whether the showrunners are still committed to it.
Unfortunately, one of S2's official trailers suggests they're not as committed as fans would probably like.
In one shot, the community quickly spotted Mr. House alive, and since he can only survive in one of FNV's four endings – his own – this creates an issue of Bethesda apparently declaring one of the multiple branching paths as canon, something the studio has never done before for moments as pivotal as a game's ending (just look up Dragon Break to see the lengths Bethesda used to go in order to keep all possible endings equally valid).
Amazon
All things considered, it appears the only way to find out for sure how Bethesda and Amazon handle New Vegas is to wait for Season 2's premiere on December 17, 2025. Just stay levelheaded, and don't forget the most crucial tidbit about the adaptation – pleasing Fallout fans was never the intention of its creators.
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