Fallout TV show will seemingly re-introduce a significant location from the series' two '90s RPGs

08.03.2024 - 14:57 / gamesradar.com / Todd Howard / Graham Wagner / Bradley Russell / Will

While we were all blinded by the brilliance of the Fallout TV show trailer, it appears the upcoming Prime Video series was trying to heavily hint at the return of a major game faction – via this iconic location.

As spotted by Redditor BristledIdiot, one moment in the trailer briefly shows the ‘Shady Sands Public Library.’

To understand the importance of Shady Sands, we have to head all the way back to Fallout’s first pair of isometric, pre-Bethesda RPGs in the 1990s. 

In the first Fallout, Shady Sands was a relatively humble settlement that your protagonist, The Vault Dweller, happens upon during his travels across the New California wasteland.

The second game, however, reveals that Shady Sands – in the intervening decades – has grown exponentially, becoming the capital city for a major burgeoning faction: the New California Republic (NCR). 

While only drips and drabs of the city are mentioned in future Fallout titles, its guardians – the NCR – crop back up again as a significant force in Fallout: New Vegas. 

While the ending of that game, depending on what path you chose, could see the NCR dealt a major blow to their hopes of controlling New Vegas and the Hoover Dam, we’ve heard precious little of them since.

Until now, it seems. It all fits, too: The Fallout TV show is set around 15 years after the events of New Vegas and Bethesda director Todd Howard has already confirmed it exists inside the canon forged by the games.

"It's a new story that comes, sort of, after the events we’ve seen," co-showrunner Graham Wagner said during a recent press conference . "The show is built on like 25 years of creativity and thinking and building."

If the NCR does appear, it will be intriguing to see in what state they find them. We already know the Brotherhood of Steel will have a role to play in the Prime Video show, so the NCR could be another obstacle for our lone wanderer Lucy (Ella Purnell) and her journey at the end of the world.

Some on Reddit, though, aren’t convinced. One asked: "Wasn't Shady Sands [an] entire new settlement and not a Los Angeles look alike?" Another theorized that it could be nothing more than a "cheeky reference."

Whether it’s the real deal, a fakeout, or something else entirely, it sure looks like Shady Sands (and the NCR) and all of the history that comes with it could factor into the upcoming Fallout show in some way, decades after they first made a splash out west. 

Fallout stars Ella Purnell as Vault Dweller Lucy, Aaron Moten as Maximus, Walton Goggins as The Ghoul, and Kyle MacLachan as Lucy’s father, Hank. All episodes from the first season are set to stream on Prime Video one day earlier than originally planned, on April 11. 

For more, check out the new TV shows coming your way in