'Fallout' Season 2 trailer Easter Egg breakdown

Dinky!!!

Dinky the Dinosaur stands tall and proud over (the ruins of?) Novac, a settlement that players could live in during the events of Fallout: New Vegas. Lucy stands in Dinky’s mouth with her sniper rifle, exactly where New Vegas companion Craig Boone stood to watch over Novac. Lucy then nails an enemy slo-mo V.A.T.S.-style, referencing the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, a mechanic that has existed in Fallout in some capacity since the very first entry in 1997. 

The Tops, Gomorrah, and the Lucky 38

We don’t really see 2296 New Vegas–-but we do see 2077 Las Vegas, through the eyes of Cooper Howard. The Lucky 38 is a stunningly close approximation of its video game counterpart. The Stratosphere-inspired hotel and casino is one of the most iconic locations in the game series’ long history, and to see it so beautifully rendered in live-action is a treat. 

In Fallout: New Vegas, the presidential suite of the Lucky 38 is where the Courier (the player character in New Vegas) and their companions throw up their feet when not roaming the wasteland. We see a shot of Mr. House in the penthouse of course, speaking to Cooper from his chair in front of a wall of green computer screens of varying sizes. It’s a well-known room for New Vegas fans; this is where Mr. House dispenses quests and wisdom (kind of) to the Courier.

Gomorrah and the Tops, two of the game’s three casinos that are open to the public, are also in the trailer, both looking pretty game accurate in their own right. No sign of the Ultra-Luxe, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the show pulls off the hat trick.

Just Outside of New Vegas, Freeside Seems to Have Changed.

Freeside is the rest of Vegas that Mr. House has not yet deemed worthy of being part of his post-war ‘utopia’. During the events of New Vegas, Freeside is loosely patrolled and controlled by the Kings, a gang of men who all dress as Elvis and operate out of an Elvis impersonation school. Their leader is simply referred to as “The King.” During the trailer, however, we can spot Lucy and Cooper doing battle with some feral ghouls in suspiciously King-like outfits. Freeside seems to have taken a downturn since we last visited in 2281. It has been fifteen years, after all. Anything could have happened. 

Speaking of Freeside—a quick freeze-frame on the defenestrating Ghoul/Cooper confirms the presence of another iconic Fallout: New Vegas location: the Atomic Wrangler. It’s a seedy casino that provides booze, chems, and sex workers to the good people of Freeside. The sign as alight in the trailer, so if nothing else, the Atomic Wrangler still survives. 

The Wrangler being a confirmed destination means we may get to see other familiar faces from the game. The Garret twins, the owners and proprietors of the Atomic Wrangler, provide plenty of quests and information as the Courier earns money to pass the 2,000 cap credit check at the New Vegas gate. 

In fact, one of the tasks the Garrets bestow upon you is to find an, ahem, ‘escort’ who happens to be a ghoul and a cowboy. Weird coincidence.

Hey, Speaking of Cooper—

Going back over 200 years, we see Cooper Howard in power armor. There’s snow all around him. Operation: Anchorage occurred from 2066-2077, the year that Cooper’s parallel plot in the past takes place. For the uninitiated: Alaska became a contested area between the Americans and the Chinese during the Great War. In January of 2077, the US successfully annexed Alaska. In one of Fallout 3’s DLC campaigns, players could enter a virtual reality simulation of war-torn Anchorage and play through the action themselves, granted with a massive dose of propaganda. 

Mr. House

Mr. House, portrayed in his season one cameo by Rafi Silver, has been recast with Justin Theroux, likely in conjunction with the character’s more prominent role in the plot of season two. What might even say a pivotal role—reflected in Cooper’s words when Lucy asks him why her father would go to New Vegas:

“You wanna know why the world ended? It started here. With one man.”

In the game, House claims to have protected Vegas from the brunt of nuclear armageddon—which makes it interesting that Cooper insinuates the opposite. 

The Brotherhood of Steel is stronger than ever

We see not one, not two, not three, but four Brotherhood airships sailing over the Mojave, as Maximus and an unknown individual in power armor race through the desert below on foot. Fans of the show will know Caswennen, the airship we saw last season, and fans of Fallout 4 are all-too familiar with the Prydwen, but where did these two other ships come from? That’s assuming either of the ships I just named are actually the ships in the air. 

Just how many chapters of the Brotherhood are there? 

In Fallout: New Vegas, the Brotherhood is in shambles. They sit in their Hidden Valley bunker after falling to the New California Republic. With a dramatically weakened NCR, it seems the Brotherhood has grown unchecked in the Mojave. Is one of these behemoth ships the Prydwen, depicted in Fallout 4 and under the command of the East Coast Brotherhood? Will the story of Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 brush up against the story of the western wastelands for the first time?

Caesar’s Legion Is Still Here—and Caesar Might be Too.

We get one shot of the genocidal Hegelian slavers, and it seems like they’re preparing for war. This implies that, canonically, Caesar’s Legion is still in the Mojave following the events of Fallout: New Vegas. Speculation is running wild as to whether season two will touch on the battles of Hoover Dam, and the Legion’s bloody war with the NCR. Our boys in Legion reds look a bit better armored than their Fallout: New Vegas predecessors, with a few M1 lookalike helmets scattered amongst the repurposed football gear. Have they grown stronger in the past decade and a half?

We only see the back of Caesar’s head in the brief glimpse, but keen eyes have pointed out that the ears don’t necessarily not match the ears of Macauley Culkin. Prime has already confirmed Culkin will join the cast in Fallout’s second season. But could this Caesar even be the same Caesar from New Vegas? There are a few paths in the game that lead to Caesar surviving to fight another day—not because of any warfare, ironically, but because of a malignant brain tumor growing in his evil little head.

Lucy In a Vault-Tec Child’s Bedroom.

There are a few fun easter eggs here. In-game items from Fallout 4 appear in the room. Giddy-Up Buttercup, the ultimate in equestrian electronics, stands next to the bed—a junk item from Fallout 4, passionately collected by a ghoul named Arlen Glass. On the desk are Sugar Bombs, the best cereal for your post-apocalyptic mornings, or illegal Jet lab!

Why is Lucy here? Is it a flashback, dream sequence, night in a friendly Vault? Or…trapped in the Vault-Tec facility that we see Hank McClaine stomping through in the trailer?

Hey, It’s Victor!

Our favorite cowboy Securitron (and, notably, the only one we know of) has come to life on screen, a perfect clone of his Fallout: New Vegas model. New Vegas starts off with a BANG—in the form of you getting shot in the head in the opening cutscene. You’re left in a shallow grave, until Victor rolls up and digs up your not-quite-a-corpse. 

This could be another hint that Mr. House is currently in power, at least in some capacity. You learn later in New Vegas that Victor, like all Securitrons in the Mojave, is strictly under House’s control. 

I can’t wait to see what will happen next.

Fans are blown away after the trailer by just how true to the game the bright lights of New Vegas are. Jonathan Nolan has thus far treated the game series with reverence, and that has never been so vibrantly on display as the Lucky 38 towering over the Vegas nightlife. 

Just remember: the house always wins.