Todd Howard Ends the New Vegas Retcon Drama

Fans of Fallout: New Vegas should not worry because Jonathan Nolan and Todd Howard have confirmed that the series does not retcon the game.

While fans and critics expressed approval for the Prime Video adaptation of Fallout, fans of Fallout: New Vegas are apprehensive. They fear the series has changed the lore to make the game irrelevant to the franchise’s canon.

These fears stem from a scene where Lucy discovers a whiteboard writing indicating that Shady Sands had supposedly fallen in 2277, right next to a drawing of an explosion.

Shady Sands is connected to the lore of New Vegas, which takes place in 2281. New Vegas itself is seen as destroyed in the finale of the series.

In an exclusive interview, IGN spoke to Bethesda director Todd Howard and series showrunner Jonathan Nolan regarding the games, the series, and this supposed retcon.

Howard admitted that there is some confusion in some events of the series, but he assured everyone that everything that happened in the games are canon including New Vegas.

Regarding the fall of Shady Sands, Howard said, “All I can say is we’re threading it tighter there, but the bombs fall just after the events of New Vegas.”

Nolan also added that they're respectful of the franchise, or else the series would stick out as the odd one among the other entries.

“Everyone who worked on Fallout, all the games, were so respectful and so careful to keep this consistent universe,” the director assured fans.

Had they deviated from the source material, Nolan said it would feel meaningless for him to view the series because it's divorced from the main world of the games.

Todd Howard had reportedly praised the production team behind the Fallout live-action series, comparing their process to Bethesda's own process for developing the Fallout games.