Note: This story contains spoilers from “Fallout” Season 1
The Season 1 finale of Prime Video’s “Fallout” left audiences with many unanswered questions around the scientist-turned-New California Republic leader Lee Moldaver, such as how she survived the nuclear apocalypse and her relationship to Lucy’s mother, Rose MacLean.
Sarita Choudhury, who portrays Moldaver, revealed that she “knows enough” about the answers to these questions, but remained tight-lipped.
“I was told enough to play each scene,” she told TheWrap in a recent interview. “When I had the first meeting, I was told a lot, and then as we were shooting… It was so coveted, this information, and the writers are so brilliant, they’re so caring. They wanted to give us everything, but at the same time, they couldn’t give everything. So I know more than you do, but I don’t know as much as them.”
In the finale, Moldaver revealed to Lucy that her father Hank was actually a Vault-Tec employee who was cryogenically frozen in 2077 (or sometime thereafter) and woken up in the future to serve as Overseer for Vault 33.
After their kids were born, Hank’s wife Rose suspected something was fishy with Vault 33 and discovered that people were living on the surface, despite the vaultdwellers’ belief that they were the only ones alive. She fled the vault with Lucy and Norm (Moisés Arias) in tow and set up shop in Shady Sands, which at that point in time was a utopia of sorts — a thriving metropolis that had been rebuilt under Moldaver. Hank tracked down Rose and took his kids back to the vault, but then — to really cover his tracks — dropped the bomb on Shady Sands.
When Lucy first arrived at the New California Republic headquarters, there was a deteriorated ghoul at a dining table. As it turns out, Rose didn’t die in the Shady Sands blast, she was turned into a ghoul and Moldaver kept her alive. There are allusions that perhaps Moldaver and Rose were lovers at some point, but it’s not made explicit. Lucy eventually put Rose out of her misery, shooting her in the head during the finale.
Shortly before bleeding out, Moldaver was able to complete her work on cold fusion, with Lucy delivering the core that was inside Dr. Wilzig’s head.
“What do you suppose your Brotherhood would do with infinite power?,” Moldaver asked Maximus. “Maybe you can stop them, maybe you can’t. Maybe all you can do is try.”
As her machine restored electricity to the cityscape, the Brotherhood of Steel barged in and took control of the cold fusion machine, marking a shift in the power dynamics of the Wasteland.
When asked about her hopes for Season 2, Choudhury said she’s looking forward to learning more about what happened to the world in the days and years shortly after the bombs dropped.
“I really want to see the people who run to the vaults and people who don’t get a vault. That literal first few months in that period I’m so curious about,” she said.
Co-showrunners and executive producers Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner teased that one of the games’ most iconic creatures — Deathclaws — will be introduced in Season 2. Executive producer Jonathan Nolan also teased that a second season would explore “one locale in particular that is close to my heart.” Though he declined to reveal that location, the final moment of the finale saw Hank staring at the outskirts of a cityscape that looked like New Vegas, from the beloved game “Fallout: New Vegas.”
In addition to Choudhury, “Fallout” stars Ella Purnell, Walton Goggins, Aaron Moten, Kyle MacLachlan, Moises Arias and Michael Emerson. The series, which hails from Amazon MGM Studios and Kilter Films, is produced in association with Bethesda Game Studios and Bethesda Softworks. Athena Wickham executive produces for Kilter Films alongside Nolan and Lisa Joy, while Todd Howard serves as EP for Bethesda Game Studios and James Altman serves as EP for Bethesda Softworks.
All episodes of “Fallout” Season 1 are available to stream now on Prime Video.
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