Spoilers Ahead for Fallout Season 2
Everything came to a head in Fallout Season 2’s wild finale as it left a giant cliffhanger for the stories revolving around Lucy (Ella Purnell), Maximus (Aaron Moten), and the Ghoul (Walton Goggins). Although it may seem like Maximus and the New California Republic finally reclaimed the New Vegas Strip, there’s a big war coming that no one’s prepared for. The coming conflict, which is set to turn the tides for Season 3, is one that has been building up since fans first met the two warring factions of Fallout: New Vegas. Now, that war has finally been reignited thanks to Lucy’s involvement with her father, Hank (Kyle MacLachlan).
Fallout Season 2 saw Hank MacLean travelling to New Vegas in order to create the technology needed to create a utopian society in the wasteland. Using Mr. House’s (Justin Theroux) black boxes, Hank planned to spread these chips to control armies of survivors. However, Lucy and the Ghoul’s journey would lead them to New Vegas, where they encountered both Caesar’s Legion and the New California Republic. Meanwhile, Maximus betrayed the Brotherhood of Steel in order to save Lucy from the incoming storm.
Although Season 2’s ending does leave the door open for several things, there were a few elements that will surely play an important role for Season 3 going forward. However, none of these elements are more important than what the Enclave has planned for the Vaults and the wasteland at large.
What Will Mr. House’s Role Be in Fallout Season 3?
For those unfamiliar, the Enclave believe themselves to be the remnants of the old American government who wish to purify the wasteland to “restart” society. In Fallout Season 2, House believed there was a greater force at play, which became clear to him that it was the Enclave.
At the end of Season 2, Lucy and Maximus had a happy reunion and began preparing for the invasion from Caesar’s Legion into the Strip. While they watched the Legion’s armies marching towards the Strip, the image of Mr. House briefly flashed on the large computer screen. Although Mr. House connected himself to the Pip-Boy that was used by the Ghoul when he tried searching for his family, his signal was cut out. However, this little tease suggests that he might come back in a big way for Fallout Season 3.
It’s very likely that, in order to resolve the conflict between the New California Republic and Caesar’s Legion, Lucy and Maximus will have to travel back to the Vault-Tec facility underneath the Lucky 38. Given how Lucy’s arc in Season 2 revolved around her father’s plans, which were set in stone by the Enclave, Lucy might have to recover the lost Pip-Boy and use it to reconnect House back to his system. As for Maximus, he’ll be there along for the ride alongside Lucy as they might work for House to restore the Strip to the way it was.
This isn’t just because House wants to retake Vegas. Rather, it very much seems like there will be a deal made between Lucy and House so that she could put a stop to her father’s, and ultimately the Enclave’s, plans in order to stop their takeover. Although it seems like the war between the NCR and the Legion will be an immediate priority, House and Lucy’s endgame would be the destruction of the Enclave, even if it means they have to work together.
How the FEV Virus Plays a Role In “Phase Two” the Enclave’s Plan
In Fallout Season 2, the FEV virus was finally teased to be part of the next phase of the Great Experiment. Although it was briefly shown in Episode 5 and its effects shown through a Super Mutant (voiced by series veteran Ron Perlman), the FEV virus has a much deeper role to play going into Season 3.
In the games, the Forced Evolutionary Virus was used to create super soldiers during the war between America and China by altering a person’s DNA. However, the effects of FEV can dramatically change a person’s physiology, transforming them into monstrous abominations known as Super Mutants.
For the most part, the FEV virus was teased to be important to what was going on inside the interconnected Vaults. Considering what society was like within Vault 32 and Vault 33, there is one idea that connects back to what fans witnessed in Fallout 2: the denizens of these Vaults will be used as a control group for the FEV virus and the Enclave will do what it does best.
Throughout the promotion for Fallout Season 2, there were constant mentions of “super managers” that actually mean “super mutants,” much like how FEV was being referred to as “Future Enterprise Ventures.” Through this very system, it’s very likely that Steph could be saved by the Enclave while the rest of the dwellers get turned into super mutants (or worse, as seen in Fallout 2’s opening massacre.)
If the Vault dwellers do get turned into super mutants, then Fallout Season 3 will need to question how the Enclave controls them. Fortunately, one integral element of Season 2’s story confidently answers this question: Hank’s miniaturized mind-control technology.
Fallout Season 3 Will Likely Tie Fallout Tactics Into Its Story
Through Lucy and Hank’s storyline, it’s possible that the Enclave could be creating real super managers by infusing Hank’s mind control chip into fresh Super Mutants. Although this may go against their philosophies of a purely human world, it would fit their plan to rid the wasteland of any other threats before reclaiming the land for themselves.
The way that the Enclave would make their plan work is through a human interface, which was made clear when Lucy discovered Congresswoman Welch’s head. The need for an experiment to run with such processing power was seen in one non-canon Fallout game: Fallout Tactics.
That game revolved around the player putting an end to the Calculator, a supercomputer that relied on its dwellers’ brains to operate. Given how Welch’s head was used to run the network in the Vault-Tec facility, it’s possible that the Enclave could be doing the same thing in their Colorado headquarters. Since Season 3 is also moving into that location, the chance for some elements of Fallout Tactics to be made canon in the show has risen too.
It could be possible for Season 3 to introduce a character who both acts similarly to the Calculator and John Henry Eden, another Fallout antagonist who sought world domination for the Enclave. Both villains, who are few fan-favorites of older players, rely on reclamation of the wasteland through their messed up ways. Season 3 could potentially see a new technological threat that calls back on other franchise antagonists.
However, with Season 3 still in production, time will only tell what new dangers await Lucy, Maximus, and the Ghoul as the Enclave now enters the picture.
All episodes of Fallout Season 2 are now streaming on Prime Video.
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Christopher Gallardo is a freelance entertainment writer and critic. While not running The Reel Roller, Chris can be found writing reviews and breakdowns on all things films and TV. Outside of entertainment writing, he’s currently taking classes for a Bachelor’s of Science with a minor in Digital Media & Journalism. Plus, he loves Percy Jackson, animated films and shows, and Fallout! Follow Christopher on Instagram & X.