Welcome back Fallout Fans!
As we continue with science fiction series coverage 2026, the dominant platform for science fiction drama series is Fallout on Prime. Subsequent to a two year delay caused in part by strikes, studio mergers, and critically the collapse of science fiction series on broadcast and cable television platforms, Fallout was the only series broadcasting until other streaming series such as Monarch: Legacy of Monsters begins it’s second season on on February 27, 2026. This will be followed by no less than seven other science fiction series TeamWHR will report on and analyze in 2026 and in 2027.
The second season of Fallout on Prime recently concluded with strong ratings. The streaming television series have been acclaimed rated at 96% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Season one achieved record shattering viewership of 2.9 billion minutes in its first week compared with season two at just under 1.0 billion minutes. While initially lower in viewership, this was due to a different release strategy than season one, Fallout on Prime has still been very popular with viewers, ranking as the sixth most watched season on the Prime Video platform.
The second season of Fallout on Prime ends subsequent to viewers learning lessons after exploring the far too often lack of morality manifest in the future. The series is a reflection much like real life in our times with rampant crime, religious massacres and hideous drug infestation cartels worldwide. All of this is coupled with the harsh realities manifest in the Fallout Wasteland artfully ported from the game, the focus on Lucy, Maximus, Norm, The Ghoul, and Hank within the third terrific episode of season two entitled “The Profligate” airing in a few short days.
Fallout stars Ella Purnell as Lucy MacLean, Walton Goggins as Cooper Howard who turns into The Ghoul in the future, Aaron Moten as Maximus, Kyle MacLachlan as Hank MacLean, Leslie Uggams as Betty Pearson, Moises Arias as Norm Maclean, Sarita Choudhury as Lee Moldaver, Frances Turner as corporate executive Barb Howard who was behind the original hideous idea to start the nuclear war to ensure that they sell many of The Vaults made by the Vault-Tec Corporation, Annabel O’Hagan as Stephanie Harper, Johnny Pemberton as Thaddeus, Zach Cherry as Woody Thomas and the addition of Macaulay Culkin of Home Alone fame as Lacerta Legate.
Additionally, Fallout is outstanding in featuring a huge ensemble cast that makes each episode a delight to watch. This includes one of my favorite characters CX404 also known as Dogmeat portrayed by real life pooch Lana 5 the lovable German Shepard canine companion seen throughout the series!
Overall, season two has exceeded our expectations for Fallout on Prime with episodes that are absolutely excellent! Superbly setting up an already approved season three by Amazon MGM Studios for Prime Video. As viewers know, the series is a hybrid of the epic Fallout game series that has enchanted video game lovers for nearly three decades with segments in the New Vegas location in the series. Of interest is that Fallout has left the direction of the four main characters (Lucy, The Ghoul, Hank and Maximus) open for the third season teasing viewers about answers that lay in Colorado.
The third season of Fallout is reported to enter production this year on May 01, 2026. Pre-production is already underway. While it is rumored that parts of the third season that begin after the New Vegas segments, it may become part of the expected future game upgrades expected soon. Tthis factor is being kept under wraps by Bethesda.
Before proceeding with our analysis of season two, and as mentioned in our previous Fallout review, we remain hopeful that Amazon MGM Studios will delight Fallout fans by bringing members of the series cast and creators to Comic-Con in July 2026.
Highlights of Fallout Season Two:
Fallout’s third episode “The Profligate” continues character development utilizing engaging storytelling. Critics noted the episode’s blend of dark humor and serious themes highlight within the story arc. Specifically the portrayal of various factions such as Caesar’s Legion and the Brotherhood of Steel are outstanding.
Standout performances from the main cast are dovetailed by learning more about Thaddeus, the new character Lacerta Legate, and the sinister Robert House, the defacto ruler of New Vegas located just beyond the Mojave Wasteland. Prior to the Great War, House was the founder and CEO of RobCo Industries where he used life-preservation technology to survive the nuclear holocaust from the safety of the Lucky 38 resort and casino facility in Las Vegas.
The fourth episode “The Demon in the Snow” explores the manner in which flashbacks provide much needed context to the current events subsequent to the Great War. Lucy learns of her true past leading to the present narratives in the series. This effectively explains why Lucy’s character has experienced significant changes since leaving vault 33 to find her father Hank who left in season one.
Especially interesting are the darker aspects of Lucy’s life including her battle with drug addiction which echoes our current reality worldwide today. As everyone knows drug addiction is directly caused by illegal cartels worldwide under the evil influence of the communist China government whose goal is very clearly out to loot the entire planet!
Meanwhile, we learn more about Stephanie Harper, overseer of Vault 32 and her evil plan to enslave everyone including her confrontation with Betty Pearson, overseer of Vault 33.
In the series present some 200 years in the future, one of our protagonists, Maximus, becomes an armored knight in the Brotherhood of Steel chapter known as the Knights of San Fernando. In “The Demon in the Snow” Maximus becomes agitated by Elder Cleric Quintus (Michael Cristofer) who comments about the situation as if he can control it.
Maximus confesses that he feels he has had no opportunity to make his own decisions. Maximus confronts Quintus, who reluctantly admits that Maximus needs latitude to accomplish the goals of the Brotherhood of Steel. Maximus heads out and soon meets up with The Ghoul.
Viewers experience a flashback to Cooper Howard’s time in Alaska before the Great War. Almost killed, The Ghoul survives due to a mutation caused by extreme nuclear radiation exposure. This exposure results in an extended lifespan with unusual regenerative abilities. This process allows many Ghouls, including our protagonist, The Ghoul, to live for centuries.
Unfortunately many Ghouls go crazy losing their mental acuity over time. Our Ghoul retains his sanity with anti-feral yellow vial inhaler medicines. It is unclear within the series who developed the yellow vials. During his time with Lucy, The Ghoul takes a liking to her, ultimately saving her life. This development creates a lasting bond between the two that endures throughout the remainder of second season.
We segue to episode seven “The Handoff” which provides answers to the many questions the series has developed from the porting of the game to live action streaming stories. In specific we learn that Hank MacLean helped get Stephanie get into the Vault systems despite the fact that she is a Canadian citizen, not an American.
This was after she turned to Cooper Howard before he became The Ghoul who introduced Stephanie to Hank in the first place where she learned that he had access to technology. Yes, you read that correctly. Hank is about to return to the enigma. Will it be with an evil agenda which has been his goal has been after he escaped Lucy in an armored suit earlier in the series? Only time will tell.
In Stephanie’s defense within her overseer status in the Vault system, Stephanie has seemed motivated by evil when Woody disappears with only his glasses found found by Chet (Dave Register) in the garbage disposal located in the sink. Did Stephanie kill Woody? It seems so, but it is not revealed in the episode.
At this point since it is not clear, we do learn that Stephanie killed whoever she needed to in order to reach her goal of survival before she became involved with the Vaults. However, we learn that Stephanie is not really a complete villain when she decides to not kill an entire Vault of people by sharing the Vault 32 water supply with rival overseer Betty Pearson from Vault 33.
This does not directly affect Lucy who has found out about how humanity has survived for 200 years. Robert House knew he could not survive since it was required that he place himself in the computer system to oversee the use of cloned individuals that are resurrected by Robert House whenever he needed to replace individuals in the Vaults.
Robert House placed himself in the Vault computer system to be able provide new copies of virtually everyone from Vault 31 that Norm discovered. The clones are needed to sustain the system House developed until The Ghoul and Lucy could obtain the Cold Fusion relic which restores power to New Vegas. This development takes viewers back to where it all started setting up the season finale.
In the season two finale titled “The Strip”, the New California Republic erases the Deathclaws which have been raving the New Vegas strip. However, an even nastier beast is on the way to the New Vegas Strip, Hank! We find ourselves with Caesar’s Legion not seen since episode three of season two.
Releasing a long-held pause button, we finally get to determine the result of the battle that The Ghoul, initiated between the Legion’s rival groups led by Macaulay Culkin’s Lacerta Legate. Lacerta announces he is the one true Caesar. A bit of humor is injected when Lacerta says he will take control of New Vegas and will build a new Caesar’s Palace on top of it in a play on words from our reality.
In the meantime, Lucy and Maximus are back together with The Ghoul after he activates the Cold Fusion relic to restore power to New Vegas. Viewers had hoped that The Ghoul would finally reunite with his family. Instead, our hopes are dashed when we learn that his wife and daughter are not located in the Cryopods as he and all the viewers had hoped.
Lucy learns that her mother is alive, but only as a decaying Ghoul head preserved by the evil Lee Moldaver. It is a fate worse than death. Segue to Hank who has plans of his own to use a brain to computer interface chip that he perfected that will enslave everyone. Hank killed many people along the way to making the device work.
This has been Hank’s motivation from the very beginning and he intends to place a chip in Lucy, his own daughter! Lucy turns the tables on her father by knocking Hank out, placing the brain to computer interface in Hank effectively disabling him and rendering his putrid plan obsolete. In a season three tease, Kyle Maclachlan has confirmed he will return! How this will be done since his brain was wiped will be interesting. Will Hank become a good guy? We shall see!
The WormholeRiders News Agency Team will return in the near future with feature articles about the next series we are reporting on; Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and other scripted series we report on as we prepare for San Diego Comic-Con that we will cover this year in July 2026!
Please feel free to share this article with your friends, co-workers and or family by clicking one of the icons below. We thank you for visiting and express our sincere gratitude.
Feel free to visit WormholeRiders on X by clicking the text links or images avatars in this news story. I and Team WHR look forward to Seeing You on The Other Side next year!
Thank you. 
Best Regards,
Kenn of Team WHR