Prime Video is joining HBO in breaking the video game curse with the release of Fallout, a shockingly stellar adaptation of the beloved game series.
By ditching the storylines contained in the main body of video games and instead creating its own, Prime Video avoided the inevitable disappointment of longtime fans, but clung hard enough to the soul of the series to satisfy even obsessive gamers. The result was an excellent, gripping series that marries humor with action and just enough drama to keep viewers hooked through each of season 1’s eight episodes.
A major player in the first season’s success came at the hand of Walton Goggins, whose portrayal of the wry and apathetic Ghoul took viewers by storm. His quest through season 1 largely departed from the character’s captivating origins, but it seems that’s set to change with season 2, which is already poised to thrust the Ghoul onto a quest to locate his missing family.
What happened to Janey Howard?
Fallout begins in spectacular style, with a glimpse of life before the war as seen through the eyes of Cooper Howard, a former actor and the man that would become Vault-Tec’s own Vault Boy. In the show’s opening scene, Howard flees with his young daughter, Janey, on a horse as world-ending bombs drop around them.
That’s the last that viewers see of Janey, apart from flashbacks, in season 1. She’s further explored through glimpses into Howard’s past, but her status post-war is still a mystery. One that season 1 allows to linger, with one tantalizing mention near the end of the season serving as a reminder that, absent though she may be, Janey is still a vital element of the show.
It’s important to note here that Fallout’s main story takes place several centuries after the bombs drop. Howard should be dead — very dead — by the point the primary plot kicks off, but his presence as a Ghoul, ravaged by radiation but near-immortal, allows him to tick off the decades without much effect. It seems unlikely that his daughter and wife underwent the same transformation, however, which should mean they’re long dead.
But they’re not. At least, not according to Howard himself, who questions Vault-Tec employee Hank MacLean about the whereabouts of his family in the season’s final episode. This indicates that, even several centuries past their typical expiration date, Janey and Barb Howard may still be alive.
That’s as much as we know, unfortunately. Season 1 of Fallout polishes off its story with plenty of questions left unanswered, and the question of Coop’s family is among the biggest. The last we see of he and Lucy, they’re headed into the wasteland in pursuit of Hank, who they hope can lead them to Howard’s family — and answers. Just which answers he’ll deliver, and how, has yet to be revealed, but its sure to be a doozy when season 2 reveals the truth behind the Howard family’s whereabouts.
