‘Fallout’ Season 2 Is Making One Crucial Change From the Games

, Nolan’s statement is true for developer Bethesda’s particular flavor of RPGs, which shies away from cut-scenes, preferring to ground the player in interactions to maximize playtime. Non-playable characters in Bethesda’s Starfield will talk your ear off at length, all without submerging you in a sequence you can’t exit.

Season two has begun filming in Los Angeles, sunny California, a big contrast from the first season, which was made in New York. Nolan says he’s excited to explore the slightly different version of America and how the world comes to an end in flashbacks.

“In a show, you can flashback and you can explore that world beforehand,” Nolan says. “It’s one of the things I love the most about season one and we will be doing more of that in season two.”

The Long Game

The unlikely partnership between Nolan and Bethesda’s game director Todd Howard began after Nolan persistently asked to meet and Howard finally agreed to a lunch.

As Howard told it to me last year, “We started talking and his vision matched up with my vision… it was like I had known him my whole life. It was like, he’s making the show, I don’t care what we have to do.” As Nolan says, “We hit it off.”

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer allowed that Howard was the one in charge of checking on whether the show did the games justice, but he did address fans’ complaints that there was no new Fallout game to accompany the show’s premiere.

“We didn’t have a new game lined up for the launch,” Spencer admits. “I actually think that gave us some creative liberty that wouldn’t have had if we tried to coordinate production of two very different creative processes to land at the same time.”

He points to Fallout 76 and the mobile game Fallout Shelter as examples of live service games that fans were able to jump on while watching the show.

“The play is much more long term than trying to drive some gift buying,” Spencer says.