Fallout Season 1 Ending Explained: What To Expect Next

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Fallout season 1.

Summary Fallout season 1's explosive ending reveals Hank's true nature and sets up a thrilling narrative for season 2.

Lucy's quest for answers leads her to follow The Ghoul, revealing dark secrets about her family and Vault-Tec's plans.

Maximus rises in power within the Brotherhood of Steel, while Moldaver's plans and Vault-Tec's secrets take center stage.

Fallout season 1's ending wraps up the story of Lucy. Maximus, and The Ghoul with a host of twists, turns, and major reveals. For the most part, Fallout season 1's story surrounds the three central characters uncovering a mystery. The mystery in question surrounds the character of Dr. Wilzig, played by Michael Emerson in Fallout season 1's cast. Via Emerson and other members of Fallout's talented cast, Prime Video's show brings the world of Bethesda's franchise to TV in an exciting adaptation, even taking place within the Fallout video game timeline.

Main Fallout Games Release Year Fallout 1997 Fallout 2 1998 Fallout 3 2008 Fallout: New Vegas 2010 Fallout 4 2015 Fallout 76 2018

Much is revealed about the central characters in the build-up to Fallout season 1's ending. Walton Goggins' Fallout Ghoul character is revealed as someone who lived through the original nuclear holocaust 200 years before the series begins. On the other hand, Ella Purnell's Lucy was born in the safety of a Vault long after the bombs dropped, though is forced to the surface after a group of raiders kidnaps her father. Concerning Maximus, he is a squire of the Brotherhood of Steel - one of Fallout's primary factions - with all storylines coalescing in an explosive ending to Fallout season 1.

Related A Single Line From Fallout Season 1 Reveals Whether It Successfully Adapts The Games Or Not Prime Video’s Fallout includes one single line that perfectly sums up the franchise and proves the show to be a perfect adaptation of the video games.

Hank MacLean’s Secret Identity Explained

Hank MacLean Is A Vault-Tec Employee

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Where Lucy MacLean is concerned, her primary goal throughout Fallout season 1 is finding her father, Hank. At the beginning of the show, Hank is taken from Vault 33 by a woman named Moldaver - known as Fallout's Flame Mother. Lucy spends all eight episodes tracking down Moldaver and Hank, leading to a climactic confrontation in Fallout season 1's ending. In the heart of the New California Republic's new base at Griffith Observatory, Lucy MacLean discovered that her father is not who he seems.

Hank, along with the other Vault-Tec employees, has been spending centuries working to instill Vault-Tec's plans on Vaults 31, 32, and 33

Lucy's discovery about her father is tied to the investigations of Cooper Howard/The Ghoul from before the Fallout show's nuclear apocalypse. The show edits together Lucy's discoveries in the present and Cooper's in the past, as it is revealed that Hank MacLean is a Vault-Tec employee. Hank, known also as Henry, worked with Cooper's wife Barb before the nuclear bombs were dropped. Hank, along with the other Vault-Tec employees, has been spending centuries working to instill Vault-Tec's plans on Vaults 31, 32, and 33, tying to Norm's investigation in Fallout season 1's ending too.

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Where Hank Goes At The End Of Fallout Season 1

Hank Travels To New Vegas

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After learning the truth about her father in Fallout season 1's ending, Lucy is naturally distraught. Hank then steals a suit of power armor from Maximus before using it to fly away, begging the question of where he ended up. The location of Hank's exodus is shown as the final shot of Fallout season 1, hinting that the city has massive implications on the world of the Fallout games, as well as the potential story of Fallout season 2.

Related 10 Burning Questions Fallout Season 2 Needs To Answer The ending of Prime Video’s Fallout season 1 included plenty of reveals, though not without raising several questions that season 2 must answer.

The city that Hank overlooks in Fallout season 1's ending is none other than New Vegas. New Vegas is a location that will be familiar to those who have played the Fallout games, as the city was the titular focal point of Fallout: New Vegas. The Fallout show's New Vegas connection is the most prominent game location shown in Prime Video's story, though most of its major implications will be left for season 2’s potential story. Regardless, New Vegas’ inclusion in the Fallout TV show is a massive part of the show’s - and Hank’s - season 1 ending.

What Is New Vegas In Fallout?

While the Fallout show's connection to New Vegas is minimal, the video game franchise offers a lot of information about the location. In Fallout: New Vegas, a man named Robert House begins safeguarding Las Vegas from the possibility of nuclear warfare before the bombs drop. He uses various sentient robots and defense systems to protect the primary parts of Vegas, though is reliant on a piece of technology called the Platinum Chip to bolster the city's protection completely. However, Robert House does not receive the chip in time, and the nuclear holocaust of the United States ensues.

Robert House makes a cameo in Fallout season 1, episode 8 as a member of Vault-Tec's private council, played by Rafi Silver.

Waking up centuries later, House realizes that his primitive defenses managed to safeguard some areas of Vegas, though the city has been claimed by raiders and other denizens of the Wasteland. Eventually, House retakes New Vegas and forms it into a thriving city that retains the best parts of pre-war Las Vegas. This explains why it remains such a tourist spot in the Wasteland, though Hank's arrival there in Fallout season 1's ending hints at more sinister forces at work in the city.

Fallout Season 1's Recurring Characters Actor Lucy MacLean Ella Purnell The Ghoul/Cooper Howard Walton Goggins Maximus Aaron Moten Hank MacLean Kyle MacLachlan Moldaver Sarita Choudhury Norm MacLean Moisés Arias Dr. Wilzig Michael Emerson Betty Pearson Leslie Uggams

What’s Next For Lucy After Fallout Season 1’s Ending

Lucy Decided To Follow The Ghoul

In Fallout season 1's ending, Lucy leaves with The Ghoul rather than staying with Maximus. Throughout Fallout season 1, Lucy and Maximus make plans to live together in Vault 33. After Maximus falls unconscious, Lucy tries to wake him to no avail. The Ghoul then offers Lucy the chance to travel with him, which Lucy takes. The primary reason for this is her search for answers. Despite having learned a lot about her father, Lucy is still mostly in the dark as of Fallout season 1's ending, with The Ghoul's own plans promising answers to her questions.

Why The Ghoul Is Following Hank

At the end of Fallout season 1, The Ghoul/Cooper asked Hank where the former's family was...

Concerning The Ghoul himself, he is searching for his family. Fallout season 1 revealed that The Ghoul used to be Cooper Howard, an actor in 2070s Los Angeles. Cooper's wife, Barb, worked for Vault-Tec with Hank, explaining The Ghoul's search in Fallout season 1. At the end of Fallout season 1, The Ghoul/Cooper asked Hank where the former's family was, meaning his wife Barb and daughter Janey. He does not find out, leading to his search for Hank's boss and the basis of his quest in Fallout season 2's story.

Related Fallout Season 2: Will It Happen? Everything We Know Prime Video's adaptation of the ever-popular video game Fallout has arrived with its critically-acclaimed first season, but will it get a season 2?

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What Happened To Lucy’s Mom In Fallout

Rose MacLean Turned Into A Feral Ghoul

While much of Fallout season 1's story surrounds the mystery of Lucy's father, Hank, its ending contains a similarly major reveal about her mother, Rose MacLean. Lucy was told since she was young that her mother died of illness and was buried, though it is revealed in Fallout season 1's ending that this was not the case. In reality, Rose discovered that people were living on the surface and took Lucy, along with her infant brother Norm, out of Vault 33. Rose met Moldaver and began living in the city of Shady Sands.

Another reveal in Fallout season 1 was that Shady Sands was destroyed by a bomb dropped from an unknown source. In the finale of the show, it was revealed that Rose died in the blast, becoming a mindless ghoul. Lucy realizes this by seeing the ghoul in Moldaver's compound wearing Rose's necklace, eventually shooting her own mother to put Rose out of her misery.

Why Hank Destroyed Shady Sands

Hank's involvement in Fallout season 1's ending does not stop with his Vault-Tec plans, but links to Rose too. Moldaver tells Lucy that it was Hank/Vault-Tec who destroyed Shady Sands, killing Rose and many other people living in the city. Hank destroyed the town due to his devotion to Vault-Tec's plans. Vault-Tec holds the ideal that surface-dwellers are incapable of peace, and live nothing but a violent lifestyle. Hank did not want that life for his children, thus destroying Shady Sands and returning them to Vault 33.

Moldaver sought out Hank to activate Cold Fusion as he was responsible for the death of her best friend, Rose.

Maximus’ New Role With The Brotherhood With Steel Explained

Maximus Is Now Known As “Knight Maximus”

As alluded to, Lucy left Maximus behind in the base of the New California Republic. Maximus is found by his comrades in Fallout's Brotherhood of Steel, with the dead body of Moldaver beside him. Due to his apparent valor in the battle symbolized by his killing of Moldaver, Maximus is dubbed Knight Maximus, moving him up from the squire he was before. This will seemingly give him more power in the Brotherhood of Steel going forward, hinting at big story potential for Fallout season 2.

Moldaver was injured in the battle at Griffith Observatory and succumbed to her wounds; Maximus did not kill her as the Brotherhood believes.

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Moldaver’s Fallout Plan Explained

Moldaver Needed Dr. Wilzig’s Head

Image via Prime Video

Wilzig's head contains a small capsule that can create cold fusion when activated by a Vault-Tec employee.

For much of Fallout season 1, Moldaver is presented as the show's primary villain. She is the subject of all three storylines between Lucy, Maximus, and The Ghoul, though Fallout season 1's ending turns this on its head. In the finale of the show, Moldaver is revealed as more of a compelling hero, one who simply wants what is best for the people of the wasteland. These motivations tie into Dr. Wikzig and the head that Fallout season 1's characters endlessly search for.

Wilzig's head contains a small capsule that can create cold fusion when activated by a Vault-Tec employee. In the world of Fallout's more advanced nuclear science, cold fusion is a form of near-limitless energy. Moldaver sought WIlzig's head to activate cold fusion and provide power back to the New California Republic. The New California Republic is the faction of Fallout run by Moldaver that inhabits much of California and opposes those at Vault-Tec who wish to rule the wasteland themselves. By restoring power, Moldaver hoped to help the NCR by making the wasteland more hospitable for everyone.

Related Is Cold Fusion Real? Why The Scientific Discovery Is Critical For Fallout's Future Cold fusion is one of the most important elements in Amazon's Fallout TV show, so here is what it is and why it is important for Fallout's future.

What Is In Vault 31? Vault-Tec’s Secrets & Management Plan Explained

Vault-Tec Embraced Bud’s Buds Plan

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Regarding Vault-Tec, the organization's plans are revealed in Fallout season 1's ending. Through a triple-pronged reveal, Vault-Tec's sinister plans come to the fore thanks to Lucy's discoveries, the investigation of Norm back in Vault 31, and the history of Cooper's life before the bombs dropped. The latter storyline reveals that Vault-Tec management had plans to create a so-called "true monopoly" by embracing a plan called Bud's Buds, created by Bud Askins, a high-ranking member of Vault-Tec management.

Bud's Buds refers to Vault-Tec management being frozen in Vault 31 with Bud's robot brain overseeing operations.

Bud Askins was shown at length in Fallout season 1's flashbacks, often dumping a lot of corporate talk on Cooper, who remains uninterested. However, Bud's words hold the keys to the plans of Vault-Tec management. Bud mentions that time is the one true way any organization can overcome its rivals and that Bud's Buds will allow Vault-Tec management to continue their work centuries into the future. As Norm discovers, Bud's Buds refers to Vault-Tec management being frozen in Vault 31 with Bud's robot brain overseeing operations.

How Vault 31 Connected To Vault 32 & 33

Bud's Buds and the plans of Vault-Tec management explain how Vaults 31, 32, and 33 are connected. The Fallout show has many Vaults, as do the video games, though Vault-Tec management was only concerned about the aforementioned three. As per the plans of Vault-Tec management explored in Fallout season 1's ending, Vault 31 was filled with employees of Vault-Tec who are preserved in life pods. Every so often, these employees would be awakened and sent to Vaults 32 and 33 to breed with their inhabitants, building a community that Vault-Tec management could shape themselves.

In committing to these plans, Vault-Tec management would create a utopia in their own image, filled with seemingly peace-loving optimists. Eventually, the plan was to have these communities go up to the surface once everyone above ground had died to rebuild a society shaped entirely by Vault-Tec management. This explains why Hank destroyed Shady Sands, and why Barb wanted Vault-Tec to spark a nuclear war.

It is still unclear what became of Barb, though Cooper continues to search for her as The Ghoul regardless.

In destroying the world above ground, Vault-Tec management's constructed communities would be the sole power of the world that stands for everything the company does. This is linked to Norm's investigation. Norm enters Vault 31 in Fallout season 1's ending and discovers the pods filled with Vault-Tec management, just as Lucy also learns the truth from Hank and Moldaver. As it turns out, Vault-Tec's plans serve as the villainous presence in Fallout season 1 due to their murderous, tyrannical methods of assuring Vault-Tec management controls a so-called peaceful world.

Related Fallout's 10 Best Video Game Easter Eggs & Hidden Details According to showrunners, Amazon Prime Video's Fallout show is packed with every Easter egg and reference under the sun, but some are truly awesome.

Matt Berry’s Mr. Handy Robot In Fallout Explained

How Mr. Handy Compares To The Fallout Video Game Version

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One cameo hidden in Fallout season 1 comes from Matt Berry of What We Do in the Shadows fame. In the show, Berry is shown to be an actor friend of Cooper Howard, who took a job voicing Mr. Handy robots. In the world of Fallout, Mr. Handy robots are mainstays in most homes, designed to do menial tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and other household-related chores. A version of a Mr. Handy robot - named Snip Snip - appears in Fallout episode 4 as a servant of two surface-dwellers who sell drugs and other things that can help people survive the wasteland in return for organs.

While most Mr. Handy versions in the Fallout games are benevolent, there is one variant called Mister Torturer that does exactly what the name implies. This could be the type of Mr. Handy that Lucy encounters in Fallout episode 4 who attempts to harvest her organs. For the most part, the still-polite nature of the Mr. Handy robot in the Fallout TV show matches what is seen of them in the games, making it a fairly accurate representation.

How Bartholomew Codsworth Connects To Mr. Handy

One mention from Berry's Sebastian Leslie links to Fallout's Bartholomew Codsworth. In Fallout 4, Codsworth is a version of Mr. Handy that lives in the home of the player character before the nuclear holocaust. After emerging from Vault 111 centuries later, the player character can encounter Codsworth tending to the rubble of their former home. Codsworth can become a companion of the player character in Fallout 4's story, with the Fallout TV show's exploration of Mr. Handy adding context to Batholomew Codsworth's origin.

The basis of most Mr. Handy robots, including Fallout 4's Codsworth, was a character from Matt Berry's Sebastian Leslie.

Based on the dialog between Cooper and Sebastian, it seems as though Batholomew Codsworth was a character the latter played in a movie. Sebastian mentions that RobCo, the company owned by Fallout: New Vegas' Robert House, bought the studio he made that film under. As such, the basis of most Mr. Handy robots, including Fallout 4's Codsworth, was a character from Matt Berry's Sebastian Leslie.

How Fallout Season 1’s Ending Sets Up Season 2

What To Expect In Fallout Season 2

Custom Image by Yailin Chacon

The foundation for a continuation has been laid out should Fallout season 2 be officially confirmed. The three main characters each have their future stories set up. Beginning with Maximus, he is now a knight of the Brotherhood of Steel, which has access to the NCR's cold fusion. Moldaver's death and the invasion of the Brotherhood means the latter organization has access to the power they desired throughout season 1, potentially positioning them as a major threat in Fallout season 2 with Maximus on the inside.

Lucy and The Ghoul's Fallout season 2 story has also been established. Both are seeking out the leaders of the Vault-Tec plan, heavily implied to be linked to the Fallout location of New Vegas given Hank's whereabouts at the end of Fallout season 1. These elements, combined with Norm being seemingly trapped in Vault 31 amid Vault-Tec's continuing plans, mean Fallout season 1's ending established a variety of compelling plot points for a continuation of the show.

Norm was told that the only way for him to survive in Vault 31 is to enter his father's stasis pod.

What Fallout Creators Have Said About Season 1’s Ending

With questions being aimed at Prime Video about Fallout season 2 from excited audience members, the creators of the show have been outspoken about the possibility of a continuation and the ending of season 1. In an interview with TechRadar, series creator Jonathan Nolan stated:

"It's an ongoing conversation I've had with [Fallout co-showrunners] Geneva [Robertson-Dworet] and Graham [Wagner] about how the show moves forward... We've had some really cool conversations about it but, for now, we're concentrating on one great season of television. If... we're lucky to get the chance to go again, then we'll be playing in the same space, but not necessarily with the same elements."

These comments are certainly interesting, as Nolan hints the Fallout season 1 ending may not be as tied to Fallout season 2 as first thought. The comment about not necessarily using the same elements brings this possibility to the fore, with Fallout season 2 promising to be very different. While season 2 is yet to be confirmed officially by Amazon Prime Video, the production received a $25 million tax credit from the state of California as per a report by Deadline, seemingly confirming that a continuation of Fallout season 1's ending will come sooner rather than later.