The Ghoul and Dogmeat in Freeside
By
Casey Duby
Published 12 minutes ago
Casey Duby is an avid TV writer, watcher, and reviewer. She graduated from Emerson College in 2021 with a focus in Writing for Film and Television, where she wrote several pilots and watched countless more. She's been working in television ever since.
Casey loves thoughtful content that makes her ponder our world and the people in it, and she's learned that any genre can surprise her. With favorites in every genre from horror to politics, family to action, nothing is off limits.
Casey has experience working in TV development, as well as writing both narrative and host-driven shows. Currently working as a Writer in Los Angeles, with an AMC A-List membership to boot, she is always hunting for the next good story and great theme song.
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The Fallout TV series is relocating from LA to New Vegas for season 2, allowing the show to explore some lingering questions that players of Fallout: New Vegas may have about the future of the city. Lucy and the Ghoul are heading towards Fallout's New Vegas in pursuit of Lucy's now-villainous father, Hank, who made a break for the city in Maximus's twice-stolen power armor.
The Fallout season 2 trailer is already chock-full of Easter eggs for anyone familiar with the beloved game, suggesting that the show is prepared to explore many nooks and crannies of the franchise's lore. While the game gives players a solid understanding of what's next for the Mojave Wasteland, Fallout: New Vegas retained some unsolved mysteries.
Benny's Fate
Benny and the Chairmen in the Tops Casino in Fallout: New Vegas
Benny is the primary catalyst for the events of Fallout: New Vegas. The game opens with the player, a Courier, being executed outside the tiny town of Goodsprings by a man in a checkered suit. The Courier, not quite dead, is rescued, patched up, and sent off to find Benny, their would-be killer.
It's revealed that Benny is the head of the Tops casino's Chairmen, one of the main tribes on the Strip. Benny had attacked the Courier over their package, a poker chip, which is actually an all-important computer chip that Benny had plotted to use in a power grab for Mr. House's army of securitrons.
The Courier eventually finds Benny at the Tops and has the opportunity to get revenge and kill him — or not. If the Courier opts not to kill him, Benny will flee to Caesar's Legion, where he will still be killed unless the Courier really goes out of their way to prevent it.
Nonetheless, Benny's fate is still up in the air, even if it's primarily a question of how he died. Regardless, he'll have a reputation at the Tops that warrants acknowledgment when the show explores the casino.
The Identity Of Mr. New Vegas
Walton Goggins as Cooper Howard/ The Ghoul looking outside a car window at a casino in Fallout season 2
When gallivanting around the Mojave in New Vegas, the Courier has the option to listen to Radio New Vegas, hosted by the always-charming Mr. New Vegas ("The women of New Vegas ask me a lot if there's a Mrs. New Vegas. Of course there is. You're her. And you're still as perfect as the day we met.")
In addition to queuing up a playlist of '50s songs, Mr. New Vegas will report on the events of the Wasteland, with updates as the Courier makes big moves. While he's become a fixture of the game, next to nothing is revealed about his identity throughout New Vegas, and the Courier never gets an opportunity to meet or interact with him.
However, in a later Fallout installment, Fallout 4, the player gets to not only meet Diamond City Radio's host, Travis, but also embark on a quest to help the anxious DJ gain some self-confidence. After completing the quest, Travis's radio persona is permanently changed.
This experience further highlights Mr. New Vegas' ambiguity in New Vegas — and suggests that the game's big city might just be the place to find him. Yet speculation has circulated among fans that there actually is no Mr. New Vegas — that he's actually just an AI persona created by Mr. House. Either way, Lucy's trip to New Vegas might just reveal the answer.
The Future Of The Kings
The Kings School of Impersonation in Fallout New Vegas
The Kings are the surprisingly benevolent gang that runs Freeside, the gritty neighborhood just outside New Vegas city limits. In New Vegas, the Kings are made up of young men with styled black hair who have made a home out of an abandoned building called the King's School of Impersonation. Unbeknownst to them, they are all impersonating Elvis Presley.
While everyone in the gang is considered a King, the gang's leader is referred to as The King, and he can be a fun ally for the player. The gang seems solidly established in New Vegas to the point that their longevity wasn't necessarily a burning concern. It's actually the season 2 trailer that brings their future into question.
There are multiple sightings of the Kings in the Fallout season 2 trailer, with them wearing their trademark black leather jackets. Worryingly, all the Kings seen in the trailer also seem to be feral ghouls. That might not be the fate of the entire gang, but from the glimpses we got in the trailer, it's not looking great.
As evidenced by one of the show's leads, the Ghoul, not all ghouls are inherently bad or dangerous. Ghouls are humans who have been so impacted by radiation that they actually begin to receive some benefits from it, such as an extremely elongated lifespan.
But for all not-yet feral ghouls, it's a delicate life. Regular doses of an ambiguous chem are the only thing keeping the Ghoul — and all ghouls — from turning feral. Feral ghouls are effectively zombies, attacking humans on sight, which is what the Kings seem to be doing in the season 2 trailer.
More Importantly, The Future Of Rex
Lucy, The Ghoul, Dogmeat and Maximus walking next to each other in Fallout season 2 poster
German Shepherd companions are a Fallout staple across the franchise. In the games Fallout 3 and 4, an optional companion is a German Shepherd that the player stumbles upon in the Wasteland and names Dogmeat. The Ghoul in season 1 of the series has a similar experience, even using the name Dogmeat, though the show offers more backstory on this particular iteration of the dog.
New Vegas' Rex, however, is a more specific dog with a specific story. As the player gets to know the Kings, they will see that The King always has a German Shepherd with a robotic brain seated by his side. After gaining The King's trust, he will ask the player for a favor.
Rex's brain is a combination of organic brain tissue and cybernetic parts. His organic brain is suffering from neural degeneration; essentially, it's failing as a result of old age, and Rex is dying. The King requests that the player take Rex and find a solution. The player can then find a replacement brain for Rex, resolving his pain and putting his life out of jeopardy.
This situation seems to afford Rex an unusually long life, meaning it wouldn't be a stretch to think that Rex might make an appearance in Fallout season 2. However, the questionable state of the Kings brings Rex's fate into jeopardy as well.
Logistically, the show also might not want to introduce another dog since they already have Dogmeat. Given all that, the best hope for Rex on the series would be a mention that a Courier ran off with him 15 years ago.
How The Brotherhood Of Steel Fared After The Battle For The Hoover Dam
Aaron Moten standing next to a Power Suit in Fallout season 1©Amazon / Courtesy Everett Collection
When the Courier stumbles upon the Mojave chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel, they are in a weakened state. The chapter is on lockdown in their underground bunker in Hidden Valley, a desert-looking area that manufactures dust storms to further conceal their location. The Brotherhood was left a fraction of itself after having previously lost a battle with the New California Republic.
The Brotherhood of Steel is a militant organization with a primary focus on preserving and hoarding pre-war technology. Depending on which Fallout: New Vegas game ending the series makes canon, the NCR could be considerably less powerful than it is at the start of the game — which would be good news for the Mojave Brotherhood.
Additionally, Maximus' Brotherhood outpost in season 1 seems comparatively well-equipped, and the Brotherhood presence in the show seems like it will only grow in season 2. The trailer for the upcoming season introduced Kumail Nanjiani as a seemingly high-ranking Brotherhood official. So far, all signs point to a much more significant Brotherhood presence in Fallout season 2.
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Fallout
10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed TV-MA Sci-Fi Action Adventure Drama Release Date April 10, 2024 Showrunner Lisa Joy, Jonathan Nolan Writers Lisa Joy, Jonathan Nolan Franchise(s) FalloutCast
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Ella Purnell
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Maximus
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