Spoiler warning for Fallout’s second season finale below.

With the season 2 finale of Fallout having set up Colorado as the main location for season 3, Howard has hinted that there will be many new locations that the characters will get to visit along the way.

“We talked about this at the end of Season 2, hinting we’re going to new places,” he said. “So, one of the things that we all love about Fallout is the geography of the world and being able to show some new things in the Fallout world that I think will surprise people, that they’ve never seen before in the games.”

Howard’s tease echoes what co-showrunner Geneva Robertson-Dworet had said in an interview with IGN back in February. Noting that the Fallout universe, especially in the games, is known for distracting its protagonists with side stories, she hinted that viewers of season 3 can expect similar things to happen in the show.

“We want to remind viewers that just because The Ghoul is heading to Colorado, of course this is the Wasteland where you always get sidetracked by bulls*** every goddamn time,” she said. “So how long will it take him to get there, or will he get there in the first episode of the next season? We will have to wait to find out. It may not be as linear a journey as one would hope.”

“Yeah, look, there’s a lot of surprises coming,” added Howard in the same interview. “We talk about it a lot. And so what I’d say is geography plays such a part into the world of Fallout, and seeing what’s there. And there’s a lot of land out there; there’s a lot of places to explore yet. It’s exciting for us to do that in games. And it’s really exciting to do it in a TV show where we can jump locations. I wouldn’t presume too much yet; I know we’re hinting at stuff, but there’s a lot of surprises to come.”

This sense of exploration driving the story of the Fallout series was a major influence on how the showrunners were writing the series, according to Robertson-Dworet.

“Well, it came out of many conversations about how the games are of course regional. One of the delights of finding out there’s going to be a new Fallout game is immediately the question of like, well, where is it going to be set? And of course, our first season being LA, second season being New Vegas, we were excited to go to fresh snow.”

Fallout’s third season will also feature new characters, one of whom will be played by Aaron Paul, who is known for playing Jesse Pinkman in the critically acclaimed Breaking Bad.

Booty noted that Xbox has “over 20 franchises that have made a billion dollars, lifetime.” He went on to speak about the responsibility he feels to “shepherd” these franchises. “We’re the stewards of that IP. We’re not the owners, because really, the communities own those.”

Sharma, in turn, spoke about just how massive Xbox’s franchises have been in recent times, especially when it comes to cross-media properties like Amazon’s Fallout series and the Minecraft movie. As for games, she also spoke about the massive success of the Call of Duty franchise.

“You won’t see us try to become the biggest linear provider in the world or anything like that, but I think great games are culture, and culture is entertainment,” said Sharma. “If you think about it, we’ve got the number two show of all time on Amazon [Fallout], Minecraft was top 5 in 2025, Call of Duty is bigger than the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So, it all measures. [There’s] more appetite to work with us on titles than ever before.”

Booty also spoke about Netflix’s live-action Gears of War film adaptation that is currently in production, being directed by David Leitch (The Fall Guy, Bullet Train), and written by Jon Spaihts. The film’s story will revolve around the origins of Delta Squad, which has been described as “a ragtag crew of soldiers who wage a desperate war for survival against the Locust, a race of subterranean creatures set on destroying humanity.”

Booty spoke about how the core of the Gears franchise has been about the bonds between the various team members that the games focus on. “When you go visit the studio, their tagline is ‘Never Fight Alone.’ So when you think about that for a dramatic narrative, it’s a pretty good starting point.”

However, when asked if Halo might ever see another adaptation after the poor reception of the one produced by Paramount+, Booty didn’t quite commit to any solid plans for the future. He did, however, talk about the franchise being one of the most important ones for Xbox.

“Halo, first and foremost, is one of our biggest franchises,” he said. “It’s iconic to Xbox, and we’re certainly going to invest going forward.”

As for Sharma, she spoke about how her first job as CEO of Xbox would be to learn about the division, its past, and how it became the company that it is known as today. “I’m learning a lot about the brilliance of our artists and what it takes to make a game — and not just a game that is beautiful, but a game that is just so deep with characters and worlds and has potential to invite millions, if not tens of millions of players,” she said.

Aaron Paul, whom you might know from Breaking Bad and Westworld, is going to be the new face joining the show’s next season, although details about his character and role in the narrative are yet to be disclosed. Deadline has also reported on a couple of Annabel O’Hagan, whose take on Steph was an absolute treat, and Dave Register, who brought the childlike Chet to life, becoming regulars in the new season. They’ll definitely be welcome additions, especially considering everything thus far.

It remains to be seen if Paul’s presence in the third season is going to produce any interesting effects like the second potentially has. Regardless, we’re definitely eager to see where the writers take us after all the shenanigans we’ve already been privy to.

Of course, this is far from the end for the successful TV show, especially with actor Aaron Morten (Maximus) claiming it would last for five to six seasons.

This has placed both seasons of Fallout in the top four for all-time viewership for shows on Prime Video. Its second season went on to become Prime Video’s most-watched show in more than 80 countries in its first 91 days. The report has noted that around 53 percent of the audience was from outside of the US, living in countries like Germany, Brazil, and the UK. Head of Global Television at Amazon MGM Studios, Peter Friedlander, celebrated the milestone in a statement.

“Fallout continues to resonate in a powerful way with our global Prime Video audience, and reaching 100 million viewers is a testament to the incredible creative vision of our collaborators at Kilter Films, Bethesda Game Studios, Geneva, Graham, and the entire cast and crew,” he said. “The show’s performance reaffirms this, with S2 now joining S1 as two of our top four biggest seasons we’ve ever launched. We’re thrilled to see the franchise continue to grow as we head into Season Three.”

Amazon’s has also seemingly done quite well with critics. According to reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the show has gotten an average critic rating of 94 percent, and an average audience rating of 96 percent.

This success bodes well for Amazon and the showrunners behind Fallout, since the third season had already been greenlit last year. Back in December, executive producer Jonathan Nolan, along with creator and showrunner Geneva Robertson-Dworet revealed that the third season will start filming in Summer 2026.

“Well I say with regards to production, we’re hoping to be shooting again next summer,” said Nolan in an interview. “We’ll see if that all comes together. Best laid plans and all, but I’m excited that the scope of the show feels undiminished season-on-season. Geneva and Graham, our incredibly talented cast and crew were able to work quickly enough to get back on the air in a reasonable amount of time.”

“I think what’s happened with television in terms of taking longer and longer from season to season is an unfortunate trend. You don’t want the show to lose any of its scope, but we know that we like to be back on the air as soon as we can.”

Nolan and Robertson Dworet had also revealed a few other details about Amazon’s Fallout, including how they had planned to depict the iconic Deathclaws in the show. Ultimately, they came to the decision to use a combination of puppets for practical effect alongside using CGI for added details.

The second season of Amazon’s Fallout took the story to New Vegas. When this was revealed, many questions were asked about whether the show would pick an official cannon ending, since Fallout: New Vegas featured several different endings based on players’ choices. For more details on that, check out what actor Aaron Moten had to say back in November.

“I don’t want to count The Elder Scrolls 6,” he said, laughing. “Starfield was long. But other than that, they’re usually pretty short.” He went on to note that Starfield’s development time was anchored by the fact that it is a brand new IP rather than being a sequel to another long-running franchise. Much of the development time also happened to overlap with global pandemic-induced lockdowns, as well as Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda being completed.

At this point, thanks to the fact that games like The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim and the Fallout series continue to be quite successful, Bethesda as a whole is in a good position. Interestingly, this has also brought on the added challenge for the studio since it now also has to make sure that players for these older titles continue to be engaged. “We also, again, have that benefit of having so many millions of people playing our other games that we’re actually trying to figure out how to serve those other audiences while we make a new one,” he said.

This means that Bethesda has had to grow out its development teams. “We sort of top out with partners, four or 500 people. That’s kind of like our peak,” said Howard. “We’re seeing that growth is slow for us, to be honest, compared to, I think maybe the rest of the industry, where we still want to be who we are and making a game.”

When it comes to making a game, Howard describes the process as revolving around long pre-production periods where the “a good kernel of a game” is fleshed out before development then continues. “We really want to get a good kernel of a game that we’re ready to then put more people on and start moving faster,” he explained. He also noted that the industry at large was struggling with the idea of when more money should start being invested in a project.

“It’s something a lot of people are struggling with,” he said. “Which is really, how much time and money can you invest… just pick a game that you have in mind. The industry is in a difficult spot, where can you, you know, what’s your confidence in that making any money, right? Because the expenses are high. So I think every studio’s dealing with that in their own way.”

In the same roundtable interview, Howard had also confirmed that the majority of developers at Bethesda Game Studios are working on The Elder Scrolls 6. “The majority of this building is working on The Elder Scrolls 6,” he said. “It’s amazing for us to come back to it. I gotta be honest, right? Being in that world after not developing in Elder Scrolls – it’s so different than Starfield, so different than Fallout – it feels great for us.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Bethesda gave Fallout 5 to a different production studio,” he said. “I think that they’re doing more and more of that already, they’re bigger and bigger than ever. I feel like The Elder Scrolls 6, the expectations are already beyond the screen here, and they already have their hands full with that.”

Former senior designer on Bethesda’s Fallout games, Bruce Nesmith, agreed with Lobe, noting that Bethesda would benefit quite a bit if it were to ship a brand new entry in the franchise while Amazon’s live-action adaptation is still running.

“I wasn’t necessarily with you before, but when you say that, I totally agree,” he said. “Having the game come out while the show is either still running, or still very fresh, would be a huge advantage.”

Giant Bomb founder and renowned games journalist Jeff Gerstmann had noted on his own podcast earlier this month that Bethesda is more likely to keep new entries in its main franchises completely in-house. This means that the company is also likelier to simply focus on growing its development teams rather than contracting an external studio.

“I think Todd Howard and the team probably have a pretty firm grasp of what they want to do with those specific franchises, and instead of assigning that stuff to another team, it would be more likely for them to staff up at Bethesda Game Studios to make sure that they have what they need to get those games done,” he said. Interestingly, he also noted that there was another Fallout game being developed by a Microsoft-owned studio. However, this project has ultimately been cancelled.

“There was a Fallout thing in development at another Microsoft-owned studio that I think is no longer going to see the light of day,” he said. “But yeah, they will probably not do the remakes. I think those have been outsourced to others, like the Fallout 3 thing, which I think has been outsourced to an external studio. But, you know, new games will probably come from that brain trust, and I think that they probably will continue to have a pretty firm grasp on that.”

Bethesda farming out remasters of its older games to other studios shouldn’t come as any surprise, since the company worked with Virtuos for the development of last year’s The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered. Just last month, creative director Todd Howard also noted that, while he has “softened on the whole remaster thing,” he continues to be “anti-remake.”

“I respect the other ones out there, but I really think the age of a game is part of what it is and its personality and what it represented when it came out,” he said.

Discussing the idea of Bethesda’s major IPs like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls being handed over to other studios under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella, Gerstmann noted his belief that the company, along with veteran director Todd Howard, have a “pretty firm grasp” on the future of these franchises.

“I think Todd Howard and the team probably have a pretty firm grasp of what they want to do with those specific franchises, and instead of assigning that stuff to another team, it would be more likely for them to staff up at Bethesda Game Studios to make sure that they have what they need to get those games done,” he said, before mentioning that another Microsoft-owned studio was working on something in the Fallout universe that ultimately got cancelled. While he acknowledges that remakes or remasters might get handed off to other studios, Bethesda will likely stick to making new mainline entries by itself.

“There was a Fallout thing in development at another Microsoft-owned studio that I think is no longer going to see the light of day,” he said. “But yeah, they will probably not do the remakes. I think those have been outsourced to others, like the Fallout 3 thing, which I think has been outsourced to an external studio. But, you know, new games will probably come from that brain trust, and I think that they probably will continue to have a pretty firm grasp on that.”

We’ve seen Bethesda working with other companies in the past when it came to making The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, which was handled by Virtuos. Similarly, the company has also worked with external partners on some of the ports and re-releases of its games. For example, Iron Galaxy Studios is known for its work in bringing over Fallout 4 and The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim to VR.

As for what the company is working on right now, The Elder Scrolls 6 is noted as being developed using a new version of the Creation Engine. Howard had spoken about this just last month, noting that the team has been quite happy with how development has been progressing.

“We have a style of game we really, really like, that people expect from us, and there is a lot of innovation to be done there still, so when you step into a world, you feel like you are experiencing it for the first time. We’re happy with where [Elder Scrolls 6] is headed right now,” he said.

He has also noted that there are “multiple” Fallout projects in the works.

While creative director Todd Howard said nothing about their existence, he has confessed to being “sort of anti-remake.” “I’ve softened on the whole remaster thing,” he told Kinda Funny Games. “I’m sort of anti-remake. I respect the other ones out there, but I really think the age of a game is part of what it is and its personality and what it represented when it came out.”

The studio seemingly looked through its extensive back catalogue when deciding on which one to remaster, and Oblivion just so happened to be “the right one.” “It was, ‘I definitely want it to be a remaster, but the absolute best version of that you can imagine,'” he adds. “So it was important to us that the original game was running, so imagine you had patched that game many, many, many times for many years, what would you have done?”

Howard also insisted that the overall visual style remained. “Let’s just make it look modern but still in the style it was. We’re not going to redesign the armor to be something new in The Elder Scrolls. It’s like that version of it looking the way you remember it, but up-resed.”

And of course, for those keeping track, he once again revealed that “multiple” Fallout projects are currently in development. How many remains unknown, sadly.

However, Howard’s stance on favoring remasters over remakes follows reports about Fallout 3’s alleged re-release. Rumors suggested that it would receive the Oblivion Remastered treatment, with a follow-up claiming that it’s “still in active development.” When it could be released is anyone’s guess, but Bethesda is apparently “keen to ensure it’s as well polished” as its shadow-dropped mega hit.

As for Fallout 5, Howard recently suggested that it would “have its time,” but dropped a more concrete tidbit last year. It will “exist” in a world where the events of Amazon’s Fallout “have happened or are happening.” Vague as that sounds, it suggests that the television series’ events could have some impact on the game’s story, if not occur in parallel. Time will tell, of course, and unfortunately, we’ll have to wait quite a long time indeed to know for sure.

When asked how Bethesda could potentially freshen the Fallout series up by changing its formula, Carter said that it might just be time for the company to sell the IP to another developer. “With the greatest respect to Bethesda, I feel like they’ve probably gone one game too far, if I’m honest,” he said.

“I feel like it’s time to go off into the sunset and look at selling off your IP because people like the franchise, I’m just honestly not sure it’s in the right hands, and it really hurts me to say that because I love Bethesda.”

Chief among his complaints about Bethesda’s run at the Fallout franchise has been the downward trend of the quality of its writing. He similarly also brings up The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, noting that he doesn’t think it’s the “best game of all time like some people,” and that instead “it’s a very, very good game.”

“I reckon if they could inject in the quality of some good writers, then the next Elder Scrolls game will be great and the next Fallout game will be great but they need better writers, honestly,” said Carter. “Everything has its own pros and cons but the one thing we agreed on with Fallout: London is that we wanted to make it more dark and gritty because that’s what Fallout actually is, and I think Bethesda are taking it in the opposite direction.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Carter also spoke about the Fallout franchise revisiting the settings and atmosphere of the original Fallout. Noting that, while he enjoyed Fallout 4, he prefers the approach that the 1997 classic took to its setting and tone to the more slapstick style that Bethesda has taken since Fallout 4.

“I would love to see the Fallout 1 setting again. I think it would be great because that’s where it all started and to really go back to it would be something,” he said. “I actually like the Fallout TV show. I know a lot of people were saying that the second season isn’t so good or whatever but I feel it’s definitely got a Fallout 4 vibe to it, which is fine.”

“I like Fallout 4 but I would like more of a Fallout 1 vibe and I feel like if you want a Fallout 1 vibe in terms of a show, you should probably watch Silo. I think Silo is a good shout for that. It’s a bit darker and grim,” Carter continued, bringing up comparisons between Prime Video’s adaptation and Apple TV+’s Silo.

“I prefer Fallout to have that sort of tone rather than going all slapstick. It’s a bit more humorous but the humour in the first series was dark humour. The slapstick stuff needs to stop because that’s not what Fallout is.”

“For us on the game and TV show side, we’re writing Season 3 now,” Howard said in the interview, noting that the writing for the show is largely being handled by its own writers’ room along with Jonathan Nolan. “We’re having those conversations now of, what are we doing in Season 3 for the TV show and what elements can we bring into our games at that time when it comes out that don’t feel forced or fake.”

Bringing in more things from the Fallout show into the games wouldn’t be a far-fetched idea; earlier this month, multiplayer game Fallout 76 saw the release of its Burning Springs update which features a story that revolves around The Ghoul—the character portrayed by actor Walton Goggins in the show. The title also saw an update earlier this year that also allowed players to turn their own characters into Ghouls, complete with their own unique perks and traits that can be used throughout the game’s content.

Howard also spoke about some of the changes that the second season of the Fallout show has since its first season, including the fact that its episodes are being released on a weekly basis. This is a major change, since the first season made its debut with the release of all eight of its episodes on the same day. Howard noted that this weekly release schedule also means that there are a lot more surprises for viewers, especially since it can’t be binged through in a single sitting for now.

“There’s a lot of surprises,” said Howard. “So the main thing is, we’re dropping an episode every week, so I would just say, stick with it. There’s a lot of surprises, and I’m curious to see how it plays for everybody, because it’s gonna be a weekly show now, as opposed to a binge-watch all at once.”

The Burning Springs update for Fallout 76 was a major addition to the game thanks to its introduction of an entirely new zone for players to explore, complete with its own story and characters to interact with. Along with this, the update also brought with it the Bounty Hunting activity, as well as a host of new public events that pit players against more powerful enemies like Deathclaws and Radscorpions.

For more details about the various updates that Fallout 76 has gotten all year, check out how the game’s developers have celebrated the title in a recent community post. Fallout 76 is available on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X/S being able to play the title through backwards compatibility until a native current-gen version is released in 2026.