Bethesda’s Todd Howard Says Mr. House’s Return In ‘Fallout’ TV Series Has No Effect On ‘New Vegas’ Canon: “It’s Intentional That Things Are Up For Interpretation”
Though many fans took Mr. House’s Fallout TV series debut as official confirmation that Fallout: New Vegas has a singular, canon ending, both Bethesda Studios director Todd Howard and showrunner Geneva Robertson-Dworet say that any take on the RobCo Industries founder’s fates can best be viewed as the result of ‘unreliable narration’.
As seen in the final moments of the second season episode The Handoff, after successfully making his way to the Lucky 48 penthouse where he believes his family to be held in cryo-stasis, The Ghoul immediately moves to begin the process of freeing them, beginning with the re-powering of the building’s power infrastructure through the use of the cold fusion device.
However, instead of his loved ones, he is instead greeted by the digital avatar of Mr. House, as played by Justin Theroux, who chillingly greets him, “Well hello, old chum.”
Not only a shocking reveal as far as The Ghoul’s story goes, the return of Mr. House also raised a curious confirmation in regards to the original New Vegas video game, as of the game’s four possible endings – decided by siding with either Yes Man, Caesar’s Legion, the New California Republic, or Mr. House himself in the Battle for the Hoover Dam – he only survives in the one where the player allies with the business magnate and helps establish him as the uncontested dictator of the Wasteland.
Given the series’ confirmed canoncity to the overall Fallout franchise, this seeming confirmation of Mr. House’s supremacy raised eyebrows among fans, particularly as his relevant New Vegas ending sees the exiling and subsequent decimating of all his opposing factions, and thus with them a number of interesting story potentials.
However, rather than outright confirmation, Howard and Robertson-Dworet say that Mr. House’s live-action appearance is instead an open-ended, alternative read as to what exactly happened at the end of New Vegas.
Speaking to GamesRadar‘s Lauren Milici, Howard explained that the ins-and-outs of handling Fallout‘s overall canon was something he, Bethesda, and the Amazon series’ production team “talk about a lot.”
“Even when we do games, we talk about, ‘Hey, what existed before, and how do you remain respectful to it?’ I think what we try to do is tell the story from the perspective of the people in the world, and sometimes you’re gonna get conflicting accounts.”
To this end, asked if he saw Mr. House’s return as establishing a ‘true ending’ for New Vegas, Robertson-Dworet told his host that he “doesn’t see it that way”, as the show’s aim with the twist was to “open the question up of whether they did and also introduce [the Enclave] as one of the most powerful entities in this universe.”
Adding to this point, Howard ultimately noted, “And oftentimes, it’s intentional that things are up for interpretation, and we have our own view of things that, you know, this series is gonna go on for a while yet.”
“But I think it’s good to open up those conversations, and you may get history, you may get conflicting reports on how some things went.”
