Fallout 5's Setting Is Already Dividing Gamers, But We Back It

Prime Video's Fallout season two may have come to an end with the arrival of February, but with a third season already renewed, it seems as though its connections to the upcoming Fallout 5 have left fans feeling divided.

Back in 2024, fans of Bethesda's long-running Fallout RPG series were treated to the first season of the live-action adaptation which would see stars like Ella Purnell and Walton Goggins take to the post-apocalyptic wastelands to tell a variation of the story portrayed in its video game alternatives.

After being met with rave reviews, Fallout was quickly renewed for a second, and now third, season, but it has left fans of the RPG series wondering if its events are canon.

Fallout 5 Taking Its Lead From The Show Is Proving Divisive

In an interview with the BBC, Bethesda head Todd Howard spoke about his collaboration with Fallout executive producer Jonathan Nolan, who is perhaps best known for his work as co-writer for Interstellar and even The Dark Knight trilogy.

"It turned out he was a huge fan of Fallout," Howard explained. "Everyone involved is on the same page with how they want to treat it with authenticity."

It seems as though that authenticity has led to the decision of the events of Fallout becoming canon in the RPG's world, meaning that the events of the show and the video game series are happening in the exact same timeline or, at least, they will happen at one point.

As explained by Bethesda veteran Emil Pagliarulo, "everything that happens in the show happened in the games, or will happen in the games."

So could this mean that Fallout 5 may be interconnected with the events of the show? This is a question that has left fans feeling divided.

"For me personally, this adds more fuel to the fire that the location of 5 will likely be San Francisco," user Next_Historian8382 shared over on r/Fallout. "Regardless of if it is or isn't, it's going to be many years until we see it. I'm curious if the show in some form or fashion will still be ongoing or not by then."

However, another since-deleted user thinks differently: "This makes no sense when there are so many contrivances and inconsistencies when connecting back to the lore of the games. It also sandbags the story and future narrative."

Personally, We Think This Could Be Pretty Interesting

Whilst it is true that this decision could lead to inconsistencies in the Bethesda Fallout story up until now, it is also worth putting faith in its developers, who have been entangled in this franchise since the beginning. If there is a way to shoehorn in moments from the Fallout show, they would be able to do it. As such, this could be an interesting decision and allow fans to work out how the stories in both the video game and live-action versions have interconnected over the past thirty years.

For now, however, the elephant in the room is that Fallout 5 is still on the very-distant horizon, with Bethesda currently focusing its attention on The Elder Scrolls VI. As such, both the Prime Video show and our attention spans may be long gone by the time it finally launches.