It's possible that the "Fall of Shady Sands" could be when the NCR moved their capital. The billboards say the "first" capital of the NCR, implying that they moved at some point.

This is my personal feeling and hope. Even though shady sands is gone, the NCR isn't. I think we have an Enclave situation, where the ncr is scattered and trying to reconnect thier forces, they were too large to fall overnight. I'm more interested at this point of what happened in New Vegas

I REALLY want to hear an NCR ranger say "patrolling the mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter" in season 2, that would literally be THE BEST fan service they could possibly do.

I just realized, if Mathew Perry never died, we could’ve seen live action Benny in season 2. RIP

Hope we get to see Veteran Rangers in season 2. A T60 Knight vs a Veteran Ranger scene would be great.

hearing that maximus is thought of as the most player-coded character was wild to me, i've tried so many times to have a different playstyle but literally every run through of every fallout game i end up being lucy. i am completely incapable of playing anything but a wasteland savior

It's crazy that we learn Cooper Howard is the inspiration for the Vault-Tec mascot, Vault Boy. It's so cool how we get a pre-war backstory of a Hollywood Western drama celebrity whose principles he had for his character in his show are forced to change because of politics, and his values hinged upon how Vault-Tec used him and then in the post-war he has embraced that new persona, the gritty cowboy driven by selfish desires and trying to find his family. Maybe they're ghouls too? Would be cool. Walton Goggins ghoul is just such a well written character.

I remember while watching the show I figured out that they would run into a Yuo Guai instead of a Deathclaw because “it’s too early in the show to see a Deathclaw”, and I was right.

The big brotherhood backpacks are actually in 76 now in a bit of a roundabout way, they basically introduced a new free camp Ally who is the brotherhood initiate and his camp item is the giant golf bag

Guys, the longer the show goes on, the higher the chance we could get Joshua Graham back

Walton Goggins blew my mind in an interview I watched yesterday. One brother releases a movie about an A bomb. The other brother releases a series about after A bombs. In the same year. lol.

Just because Shady Sands is the NCR capital, it does not mean per se that the NCR is finished, London is my capital but if it was blown off the face of the map, I, and thousands of others, would still be British.

Fun little fact when all the ceos are talking, and they bring up the map to all the vaults. There's a volt placed in canada, From its location, it looks like it's in winnipeg

If nothing else the NCR was from LA to San Fran. So taking out even the capitol wouldn't destroy the NCR. As for New Vegas gotta remember there was getto surrounding the Strip.

I 100% thought that serum doctor was selling snake oil, until he proved he wasn't.

Ok. For the timeline we need to look at the clues. The bombs originally dropped in 2077. That sends everyone to the vaults. The show starts at 219 years later. Thiz puts the show at 2296. Assuming both Lucy and Maximus are 18, we see Lucy was in Shady Sands at 4 years old. This would put her in Shady Sands at 2278. Maximus said he was 8 when Shady Sands was nuked. That would be 2282. New Vegas takes place in 2281. So the fall of Shady Sands could be when things were going bad politically with the NCR and they moved the capitol to another location. Moldaver could have created a splinter group of those in the NCR loyal to her and wanted revenge for Shady Sands. These people would still think and act like they are a part of the NCR, but not have the full backing. So yes, it would seem that all the events fit and New Vegas can still be canon since Shady Sands was nuked in 2282, one year after New Vegas.

As a former Halo fan, any mention of a tv show for any of my favorite video game universes is going to give me anxiety.

I think the biggest question is how many loading screens does this new series have

I'm confused as to why Cryostasis is a thing in this show. Wasn't vault 111's entire point to test how longterm Cryostasis affects humans? It seems weird to me that the Vaulttec execs willingly throw themselves in century-long Cryosleep.

The show forgot to explain how Moldaver got into one of the cryogenic vaults though and why she’s around the same age as Hank, when she’s older in the flashbacks and Hank was just a newbie in Vault-Tec.

Fallout was frankly one of the best adaptations I think I've ever seen for game to screen. (That's 51 years of watching things)

You wanna see the Serum doctor in season 2? Fucking a double-headed cow instead of chickens this time?

Maybe the Fall of Shady Sands means an unknown faction conquer the town, forcing the NCR to move their capital. If I remember correctly there are characters that mention NCR expanding too fast and multiple mission where it shows that NCR was struggling suppling their armies. So it possible that the NCR lost Shady Sands and the conflict afterwards led to destruction of the town.

Maybe the “Fall of Shady Sands” is a more complex event then we think. Maybe something bad happened in 2277 which made the “original” Shady Sands relocate to a safer/better position near LA. During this it also lost the status of capital of the NCR. That’s why it says first capital on the billboard. The relocation was succesful, but after 4-5 years, Vault-Tec learned of the previously unknown town because of it’s new proximity to Vault 31. And then they just nuked it sometime in early 2282. But that’s just a theory…

NCR theory (fallout show spoilers) As a disclaimer this is the first time I'm doing something like this so it might become a bit incoherent but I'll try my best to explain my theory. Furthermore I'm a massive ncr fan boy so there will be cope. With the introduction of the fallout tv show, significant changes have been made to the ncr and its lore (disregarding any possible retcons for now), but despite the lackluster appearance of the faction in the show I believe they may hold a great role in the second season. I believe that the NCR has retreated to its northern territories, abandoning the south of California in favor of consolidating the north. I base this theory on 2 assumptions, and 6 areas of speculation to form the basis of this theory. Assumptions 1. The NCR won at the battle for Hoover dam (at a great cost) 2. Shady sands was destroyed post NV As for the basis why I think the NCR has retreated and consolidated in Northern California/Nevada are as follows: (I will try to make a logical seminar chronological order to my reasoning) 1. Vegas At the end of season 1 we get a teaser of new Vegas, here we see a dust covered destroyed vegas littered by destroyed securotrons and a downed NCR vertibird. From this we can assume that at the very least the NCR had a presence in Vegas at the time of its destruction. This leads me to believe that the NCR won at Hoover dam A. They had a presence in Vegas till its destruction B. The legion is nowhere to be seen C. The destroyed securotrons are covered in scratch marks (deathclaw or Tunneler?) If the NCR truly won at Hoover dam this would mean they gained full control it would gain the massive resources of the region as well as the full power output of the dam. This in turn would allow the NCR's main territories to be developed at a rapid pace due to the influx of electricity, food and water. 2. Desertification In fallout New Vegas it is revealed to the player that California is suffering from desertification, and as a result there's less available water and farmland. The NCR's OSI in Vegas is tasked with finding a solution to this problem and are the ones to inform you, they further state that if this problem was not fixed it would lead to great food and water shortages in NCR. Logically the first areas of California to be effected by desertification would be sourten California which borders the Mojave dessert. This would lead the southern territories (of which LA/the Boneyard and Shady Sands (which is now in LA) to be amongst the first affected. This can be further seen in the show as in the events of fallout 1 & 2 California's shoreline has remained practically the same as current day real life (example the tanker in San Francisco's harbor you use to get to the oil rig is still in the water) but in the show we see that the shoreline has massively retreated as ships or run dry and rusting in the sand and the ocean being nowhere near Santa Monica pier, in stead all being dessert. 3. Shady sands + new capitol As a result of the desertification the traditionally agricultural oriented (due to their G.E.C.K) city of shady sands would see a decline in relevance as it losses its main economic factor. This could be the "Fall of Shady sands" in 2177 as seen on the vault 4 chalkboard, this referring to Shady sands fall in influence on NCR (and fixing the possible retcon of being nuked before NV). Next up the influx of resources from the recently conquerored Vegas would be invested in other areas more attractive like San Francsico, Vault city, New Reno, Sacramento city etc etc. The loss of Shady sands relevance, combined with the investment on other regions with Vegas' resources would lead the NCR's center of gravity to shift up north. In the show when our characters visit the crater of Shady sands, it's city sign states that it is the "Firts capital of the NCR" meaning there is a seccond capital. And as nobody would return to the city after it got nuked to correct the sign after its destruction. This would mean NCR moved its capital somewhere before Shady sands got nuked and after the events of New Vegas. This would make sense as due to the previous factors the country's center would shift the NCR moved its capital to a more northern city (San Francisco would be my pick). Furthermore as a result of the heavy casualties in the NCR-Legion war, the NCR would have to switch to a more internal focused policy, as due to its war exhaustion it could not afford to expand further (lack of troops and willpower + they now have Vegas so no need to conquer more as of now) 4. Destruction and fall Now as previously stated Vegas is seen destroyed at the end of season teaser. I think Vegas and Shady Sands got destroyed in roughly the same time period. Vegas I believe was destroyed by 2 possible scenarios 1. With the battle of Hoover dam and subsequent occupation of the strip the NCR did not have the forces necessary to deal with the deathclaws at quarry junction, this led to them overpopulation and eventually decending on the city of New Vegas, sacking it. The basis for this is that we see a deathclaw skull outside the city, and the destroyed securitrons are covered in large deathclaw like scratch marks, furthermore there are no visible corpses (likely eaten) 2. Tunnelers destroyed New Vegas. In the lonesome road DLC it is stated that the divides tunnelers are trying to leave the divide for other cities. As the city itself in the teaser is covered in what appears to be a giant dust storm blotting out the sun, this would allow the tunnelers to enter the city as they are normally weak to light (especially sunlight). This dust storm could be an effect of the previously mentioned desertification makinh large duststorms a norm in the area, or the weather machine at big MT was used to create a permanent dust storm. A dust storm would explain how the NCR vertibird was downed, possibly being slammed into a building by the storm. Seeing as neither deathclaws or tunnelers can bring down flying enemies due to a lack of ranged attacks. Furthermore deathclaw and tunneler claw marks are similar so both are substantiated by the clawmark covered destroyed securotrons. 5. NCR's retreat/consolidation If the NCR were to lose new Vegas, Shady sands (their primary settlement in southern California) and Southern California losing its agricultural value at around the same time. The NCR would be dealt a heavy blow 1. It loses a lot of troops that were deployed to the Vegas area 2. It loses vegas' resources/reason for going to Vegas 3. It loses its primary settlement in southern California The turmoil that would be caused by these events would seriously shake the NCR which would have to focus on rebuilding, consolidating and maintaining order. With the loss of troops and resources this would be a difficult task even for a country as great as the NCR, so seeing as Southern California loses most of its value and main urban center, I believe the NCR abandoned these areas in favor of focusing troops and resources on the north to consolidate and reorganize (especially because Shady sands wasn't the capitol anymore). As a result the NCR troops we see at the observatory would be holdouts who refused to retreat to the north with the rest, explaining the sorry state of their equipments (the ncr usually sports universal standardized gear, the guys at the observatory use anything they get their hands on) 6. Cold fusion In the last episode the NCR holdouts at the observatory manage to use the cold fusion device in order to generate near limitless power but are shortly afterwards wiped out. This technology would allow the still recovering NCR up north to fully power their country and economy and consequently make this discovery invaluable to the NCR. Seeing as the holdouts were afiliated with the NCR, I think before they were wiped out, they sent out a radio message to the NCR up north informing them of their discovery, leading to in s2 the NCR involving themselves more in the story in order to get their hands on the cold fusion technology (possibly sending troops and or rangers). Cope: I know I'm being a fanboy, but come on. A wasteland superpower with at least 700.000-1.000.000 citizens should not collapse over the loss of a city of 30.000 that's just malarkey and dumb. Nor would people give up on a country most have been a citizen of all their life because of a single (although horrible) setback, it just wouldn't make sense, there are too many vested interests to just let it dissappear like that. Conclusion: Due to a shift of center of gravity towards northern California for the NCR because the south of california is dessertifying, and the south of California/NCR losing its value due to at first desertification, and then the destruction of both Vegas and Shady Sands. The NCR retreats to its northern territories where it attempts to consolidate its power. But due to the discovery of cold fusion power by the NCR remnants in the observatory, the NCR in season 2 will return to LA/Shady sands in order to through their hat in the ring for the control of cold fusion power. Thanks for those who took the time to read my rambling, and sorry if it gets incoherent

My theory is that a kid wrote on the chalk board for an assignment and got some stuff wrong

Anybody else find it weird how nobody is talking about the Enclave presence in the show?

I mean, the series makes it pretty clear, that the NCR might be down, but not gone. An organisation as large as the NCR is also kinda bound to have remnants beyond just people remembering it. In all fairness, the series is ridiculously better than anything I've hoped for and stays very much true to the idea of what Fallout is. The series is really, really good. And is definitely over-hated by a lot of people and some of the complaints are straight up silly or plain idiotic.

Doesn't answer why Shady Sands was moved and its basically in the Boneyard now. I never had an issue with the timeline, was clear the nuke symbol was after '77 due to the arrow.

Didn't make sense to me that fans were saying the NCR were completely destroyed because one city got bombed.

The only thing I didn’t like that they changed about the lore was that the Ghouls had to take that drug to become Ghouls and not go feral. Also I felt like the amount of times they showed Maximus coming out of that milk fridge was excessive lol

My money on a returning charater would be the BOS turned Ghoul. He'd be fun with conflicted loyalties.

Nobody going to bring up that the first battle of hoover dam is in 2277

I really hope they bring in an ex Veteran NCR Ranger in Season 2. Maybe one who turns bounty hunter after the events of Fallout New Vegas and the NCR's withdrawal.

in New Vegas, the NCR been saying Shady Sands is not the same like it used to, they complains about the government there, ofc the NCR who were in charged of those outposts been complaining about lack of reinforcements and supplies. they can barely hold on the legion raiders that were already near nipton area. and then i concluded the fall could mean just simply the declined of NCR itself. the nuke def push them back from the south.

One of the things I really liked about the show is that I can relate to all three of the main characters as characters I've played through playthroughs, The one who always tries to do good and what's right, One who doesn't care about anything or anyone and will do anything to live or kill, and the one who's just kind of doing what seems right at the moment or for things to go well for them. All playstyles that are totally viable in the games

I wished we touched more on Mr House. During the final where he was at the meeting of corporations, I wished he showed more reserveness and object to deploying the nukes. In lore his character was written more as someone who genuinely wanted human advancement and wanted Humans to colonize the moon. So the idea of starting a nuclear war contradicts that. However I’d be willing to see more flashback back story about it, such as him eventually coming around to the idea of nuclear war as long as Vegas could be saved so he could rebuild his empire there without governmental restrictions. Tbh I like that idea. Hopefully the 2nd seasons show more

I hope the next season shows Eric Estrada as an NCR ranger!😊

Todd managed to fix that 2277 confusion with the Shady Sands timeline. What a save!

Regarding the situation of the New Vegas strip: if I recall correctly, the Yes Man ending says something about "anarchy ruling the streets" after the battle of Hoover dam and the evacuation of NCR forces. Wouldn't that match the visual from the show? (We could even see a crashed NCR vertibird on the strip) Also, at end of one episode, we get a cinematic view of the radio station, looking abandonned and ruines, yet we find out it is very much active, so I wouldn't worry too much about Vegas. Furthermore, the view we get from Vegas shows a few small locations around the city with smoke coming from chimney/campfire, which is also the case for at least one building on the strip itself. (Please excuse my poor english)

Small part growing into a big part could be Erik Estrada's "Adam" getting revenge on the Ghoul for shooting his kids. With them also saying possibly more NCR stuff, we see from the armor, he could be retired or still working for them. Maybe.

What I want to know is the BoS in the show, what off shoot are they and are they the survivors from Hidden Valley (since in almost all endings it was destroyed and the BoS and NCR go at each other, we can safely say peace was never made). Also would have been interesting if they made the Sierra Madre ending of the game cannon ...

This was something needed for everyone as it cleared up a lot and honestly can put things to rest on the "timeline" a bit more.

I like how they addressed that Maximus is the neutral. It makes it more clear and engaging for every fallout fan. That means Lucy is the morally right player making the good choices, which is the character I would play. Lastly the ghoul would be the player that makes more evil or morally grey decisions, like shooting up the entire town to get a bounty. Maybe in season 2 the ghoul will turn on Lucy over a conflict of interest.

I appreciate the Sim Settlements 2 mod footage included in the Fallout 4 clips lol

I think the official ending for New Vegas is the Independent Vegas ending. With the losses and resources the NCR had put into claiming Vegas and the Hoover Dam they mustve started to decline.

The hilariously big bag carried by the squire following the Knight around... often with the stock of the automatic rifle sticking out... obviously invokes the image of a lowly golf caddy carrying golf clubs following a wealthy golfer around, LOL.

RIP Mathew Perry, he used to love Fallout and even voiced Benny in new Vegas. Would have love to see him be a part of season 2 in some way.

This might be the best video I've seen on the topic yet. No fearmongering about how the show "ruined the lore". No snarky comments against people who were worried about their favorite game. Just presenting new information that addresses the concerns fans had. Good stuff! 👍

I really hope we get a Fallout 5 game, and better more.. I hope we can play as different factions so the story and the end can have infinite possibilities, AND I know this is asking for too much, but a way or DLC in the future that gives you the ability to play before the war that's based around vault tech, and the things you do before the war, impacts the story as well as you play.

It will be interesting to see if the courier is mentioned at all during season 2, and if the events of the DLC have any impact

If only matthew perry were still alive, I betcha he would've loved to be in the tv show RIP

Man I was so excited to potentially see shady sands on screen and they blew it...

Could the fall of shady sands in 2277 not be linked to the first battle of Hoover Dam? Maybe the Legion spread the NCR so thin that it lead to the beginning of a decline for their capital until vault tec’s nuke dropped on it just after NV

The fallout universe is unique and never-ending changing of war against each others faction, anything could happen and change. You can't simply eliminate a certain faction, because if there are remnants of that faction they can still regroup and recruit people. It's a never ending war in the wasteland and war never changes.

Thank you for pointing this out, I’m seeing a lot of unecessary drama in the fallout community about this!

I loved the show personally but was definitely concerned with some of the lore implications of it. That said, I'm definitely feeling good about everything that was said in this interview. Very much looking forward to season 2

We shouldn’t be talking about Fallout 5, instead we should be talking about the Elder Scrolls VI. It’s ok to be talking about what is next for Fallout 76, Fallout tv show, Fallout 3 Remastered, the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, Starfield, and Fallout 4 next gen update. The Elder Scrolls VI is the next Bethesda RPG happening after done with Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI will be before Fallout 5.

To be fair, Ron Pearlman has kind of lost his mind over the last few years, so involving him might be like opening Pandora's Box.

Ella Purnell 🤝 Being the main character in the 2 greatest video game adaptations ever.

A huge ask for season 2 would be to have Joshua Graham. But a more likely character who could play a huge role would be Ulysses, he is obsessed with the old world and here is all these people from the old world who still hold a ton of power. The possibilities are endless.

I will be very disappointed if Yes Man doesn't show up at the very least as a reference in Season 2, he's one of the only true 'Immortal' characters, because he exists within the electrical network itself. Even if you kill the back-up, he continues to exist and only a complete destruction of the underground powerlines throughout the Mojave, would kill him off. I'm also hoping the New Vegas Strip is only dark because it's currently going through a temporary power outage, something that according to the game did happen at times.

Serum doctor aka chicken fucker being a reoccurring side character would be funny “Ayyy! It’s the chicken fucker he’s back!”

The chicken is going to make an apperance in season 2. That's my prediction

Really great video. Thank soooooo much for your breakdown and coverage of that interview. 👏

I think with the popularity of the show with great hope they might start the ball rolling on fallout five

my 3 main problem was the ghoul juice power armor and the mcguffin if anyone could make it enclave isnt even a choice

Fallout tv show is supposed to be in 2296, maximus survivor of shady sands nuking looked to be around 10 or 11 yrs old coming out of fridge. Dat would put nuke around 2285 or 2286 around the time for fallout 4

Even says on the wiki that the capital was moved. NCR isn’t gone, it’s fractured.

I love the scenes of Cooper Howard in the pre-war. I can only assume he’s Todd’s great grandson in an alternate timeline.

I watch the TV series to date. I thought it was great. Was not wanting to see just another FO remake on TV. The TV series has its own flavor and direction. I'm ready for FO 5 Todd. Bring it on!

But what about the broken water chip in Vault 33?!

every single squire be like :"Sigh, i am sworn to carry your burdens."

I always saw the title cards for the characters as a reflection of "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" I don't know if that was their intent, but I really do feel there's some parallels there. And as a Fallout 76 player, he's right, it really is one of the nicest online communities I've ever encountered. The fact it was so common to leave gifts by the doors of Vault 76 that they added a donation box just speaks volumes.

Glad to hear they are trying and mostly succeeding at keeping to the timeline. The 2277 will likely be rectified. I don't really care personally, but respect to the lore and fans of that lore is important.

Shady Sands in the show being between LAX and the financial district in LA, but in the game its all the way next to Death Valley far to the north. So is it the same Shady Sands or a different one?

The character that came in for a cameo, but ended up important to the story is probably Chet, they talked about him in this way in other interviews. Apparently in the original script he was simply called Vault Dweller no.# (I can't remember the number).

i hope Fred Armisen's character is made central to the plot. He could be the "settlement guy", as in Lucy convinces him to work together building a settlement. His character definitely picked the Local Leader perk

This show is way better than I ever thought it would be, I’m so excited to see where it goes. The pre war scenes were some of the best as well I also hope we see how coop becomes a ghoul, I get the feeling it wasn’t quite the same as most other ghouls since when Lucy asks if radiation is what happened to him he responds “something like that”, he could’ve just been coy however I feel there’s potential there.

Interesting idea I had, but who knows. Lee's Ranger Remnant, or something like that. We could have a hardened General Lee Oliver, who has been in the Mojave for years and years, with the rangers, his normal troops, and probably some others. I dunno.

In the game Squires are the little kids who are training, and Initiates are the ones who follow the Paladins and carry the weapons. Doesnt add up with lore

If shady sands is gone I want the tunnelers to be the ones who invaded the Mojave

The squire with the bag is already a thing in fallout 76. You got your wish

Serum doctor being mysterious stranger or whatever the funny guy that shoots people for you in VATS is, could be an interesting theory. Him getting older but still shows up to people in need. In sort of a different way.

Are we sure that the cold fusion device is something that has to be left in place now that it's been activated, and not something that The Brotherhood can just take with them, causing the city to lose power again?

Amazing video Juice Head!!! I love the Fallout show so much and I'm super excited for Season 2!!! 😍😍😍😎😎😎🎉🎉🎉🎊🎊🎊💯💯💯✨✨✨

The pre-war stuff was fascinating, it's definitely a part of Fallout that we haven't really seen much of yet, and a perfect thing to explore in the show.

My biggest Questions are: - NCR was strong enougth to beat the BOS of the Westcoast, where is that all? Where are their Vertibirds, where are their Powerarmors, where are the Rangers? - NCRs biggest Oponent was the Legion. Where are they? Didn't they use the power vacuum, when the NCR collapsed, and spread west? - The Eascoast BOS went there and spread without resistence of the predominant regional forces (NCR / Legion)? Even while the BOS should be much weaker as one of them? - What are that Scyscrapers arround Shady Sands? Shouldn't it sit far outside of LA in the north-east in the middle of uninhabited areas in pre-war times? Whare the Series has presumably placed it, should be Boneyard, not Shady sands, I think.

I’m glad the timeline issue has been cleared

Great! Now that that's cleared up I have one question. Why did they not just use the Boneyard instead? While not the capitol it's still a major and important NCR city and would be just as much of a loss for the NCR as Shady Sands and also fits better because : -Its right in LA near where they wanted the show to take place and they wouldn't need to magically move Shady Sands hundreds of miles. -It has the skyscrapers and tall buildings which they show in the background unlike Shady Sands which was built from the ground up post-war. -You could STILL HAVE YOUR NUKE CRATER YOU WANTED SO MUCH and it would make perfect sense and be in line with the Fallout 1 ending and blowing up the Masters Cathedral. It's like the show writers just had a personal vendetta against Shady Sands specifically and twisted quite a lot to get it there when the Boneyard would've just been a better overall pick and wouldn't cause controversy, on the contrary it shows our actions in Fallout 1 and gives weight to the decision of blowing up the LA Vault and the Cathedral. Why they wanted Shady Sands so much just baffles me.

They should make parts of the dust mod canon could help explain the Vertibird as like a failed evacuation attempt and any NCR troops we see in season 2 would be the NCR remnants we see in some locations in the mod

They're so carefull that Shady Sands isn't even in the right location...

Aeron Paul as Elder Maxson would be AWSOME!

Pre- War Mr.House in Season 2 is going to be awesome. The Big Mt. Cameo I hope is explored in season 2

I wish he talked about the master.

People need to stop believing that theories are the real lore

The fall of Shandy Sands was the beginning of the war with the legion that began with the first battle for Hoover dam, that long war was a drain in resources that slowly dried out the republic's resources leading to an economic fall like that many real life emoires experimented way before they were actually destroyed or just became hollow shadows of their former selves. The nuke happening somewhere after the end of NV was just the icing on the cake and the last nail on the coffin of the already declining NCR. But the fall was the NCR overreaching all the way to the Hoover dam and the war with another large power (Caesar's legion) so far from their home turf.

But they say that Lucy's mom died in the "great plague of '77". Which is the date listed NEXT to the Nuke in Shady Sands. So unless the implication is that Lucy's mother left the vault in '77, and the Plague wasn't to cover up Shady Sands being nuked, but to cover up one of the Vault inhabitants suddenly disappearing - which raises its own set of questions - that still jumbles things up. I dunno, I think it's one of those situations where people caught it, and now the showrunners are pulling a "Woops, we fucked up, better be cryptic and pretend it's deeper/intentional".

I hope the character that comes back is Thaddeus as a ghoul, dude was hilarious

Happy they asked these questions so folks can relax, now get your asses in gear and get season 2 rolling