Fallout

Fallout is a post-apocalyptic role-playing franchise set in an America that diverged from real history in the 1950s, retaining that era’s aesthetic and optimism while the Cold War escalated to nuclear exchange in 2077. The franchise was created by Black Isle Studios at Interplay in 1997 and later acquired by Bethesda Game Studios, which has published mainline entries since 2008. The Amazon Prime Video television series adapted the franchise in April 2024 to immediate commercial and critical success, and Season 2 premiered December 16, 2025, introducing New Vegas and earning a 97 percent Rotten Tomatoes score. Season 3 was renewed ahead of Season 2’s premiere.

The Black Isle Era

Fallout released October 10, 1997, developed by Black Isle Studios at Interplay, set in a retrofuturist post-nuclear California where the player character known as the Vault Dweller emerges from an underground shelter to recover a water chip essential to their vault’s survival. The game built its world on the visual aesthetic of 1950s American optimism, from the Pip-Boy wrist computer to the Vault Boy mascot and the cheerful corporate propaganda of Vault-Tec, contrasted with the complete destruction of the civilization that optimism had belonged to. The S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attribute system and the turn-based combat with targeted body part attacks gave the game a distinct tactical flavor that its sequels refined. Fallout 2 in 1998 expanded the world significantly, introducing the New California Republic and the broader lore structure that the franchise has built on ever since. Fallout Tactics in 2001 was a more combat-focused spinoff. Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel in 2004 departed from the franchise’s established tone and is generally considered non-canonical.

The Bethesda Era

Fallout 3, developed by Bethesda Game Studios and released October 28, 2008, moved the series from isometric turn-based gameplay to first-person open-world action role-playing, shifting the setting from California to a ruined Washington D.C. called the Capital Wasteland. The V.A.T.S. targeting system preserved the spirit of the original’s tactical body-part targeting within the new perspective. Fallout: New Vegas in 2010, developed by Obsidian Entertainment using Bethesda’s engine, is widely regarded as the creative peak of the franchise, set in the Mojave Wasteland around the ruins of Las Vegas with a narrative built around the three-way war between the New California Republic, Caesar’s Legion, and the mysterious Mr. House that gave the Courier player character unprecedented agency over a story with meaningfully different outcomes.

Fallout 4 released November 10, 2015, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, set in a Boston region called the Commonwealth with a fully voiced protagonist and a settlement-building system alongside the franchise’s core exploration and combat. A tenth anniversary edition released in 2025. Fallout 76 in 2018 was the franchise’s first online multiplayer entry, set in Appalachia, West Virginia, twenty-five years after the nuclear war. The game launched to a poor critical reception before years of updates improved its standing significantly. A major 2025 update called Burning Springs added a new Ohio map and introduced Walton Goggins’ television series character The Ghoul to the game. Fallout 5 has been announced by Bethesda as a future project following the completion of The Elder Scrolls 6, with no timeline confirmed.

The Amazon Series: Season 1

Fallout, the Amazon Prime Video television series produced by Kilter Films and developed by showrunners Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet under Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan, premiered April 11, 2024, across eight episodes. The series introduces Lucy MacLean, played by Ella Purnell, a Vault 33 dweller who ventures into the post-nuclear wasteland for the first time, The Ghoul, played by Walton Goggins, a pre-war actor named Cooper Howard transformed by radiation and centuries of survival into a morally complex bounty hunter, and Maximus, played by Aaron Moten, a Brotherhood of Steel squire navigating his order’s brutal hierarchy. Season 1 became one of Amazon’s most-watched series and won Emmy nominations for its direction and design.

The Amazon Series: Season 2

Fallout Season 2 premiered December 16, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, with eight episodes released weekly through February 4, 2026. The season moves the story to New Vegas, the post-nuclear version of Las Vegas and a major location from Fallout: New Vegas, tracking Lucy, The Ghoul, and Dogmeat as they pursue Vault-Tec’s remaining leadership, while Maximus advances within the Brotherhood of Steel hierarchy. Kyle MacLachlan returns as Hank MacLean, and the season introduces New Vegas’s controlling figure Mr. House. Season 2 earned a 97 percent Rotten Tomatoes score from critics. Amazon renewed the series for a third season in May 2025, ahead of the second season premiere. Season 3 has no confirmed production timeline or release date.