Fallout Season 2 Proves That Netflix Needs To Fast-Track This Rival Video Game Adaptation

This article contains spoilers for "Fallout" season 2, episode 1 — "The Innovator." 

Season 2 of Prime Video's stellar video game adaptation "Fallout" is here, and so is the most memorable character of the video game "Fallout: New Vegas." Robert House (Justin Theroux) is not only the most important new player in "Fallout" season 2, but if everything "The Innovator" suggests about him is true, he might just be the most important and infamous person in the entire live-action leg of the franchise. A mind-controller, a murderer, the primary instigator of the apocalypse, and a frighteningly suave guy who's always one step ahead, the show's version of Mr. House seems destined to become a compelling fan-favorite character for the ages. He's also a very obvious villain expy of real-life eccentric tycoon Howard Hughes, who was memorably portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in one of his best films, "The Aviator."

The impact Mr. House makes from the get-go does more than just elevate "Fallout" to a new level. It also makes me wish that Netflix would hurry up with its film adaptation of another great video game property: 2K's "BioShock." That franchise also just so happens to feature a very Hughes-inspired villain similar to Mr. House: Andrew Ryan, the designer and builder of the terrifying underwater utopia-gone-wrong called Rapture. 

"BioShock" and "Fallout" share much of the same post-apocalyptic DNA, though the former is considerably more serious and ominous than the latter. Andrew Ryan's crumbling underwater city of Rapture was supposed to be a haven for the brightest minds of the world, but it fell to mutations and mayhem, leaving the player character to navigate the rusting ruins on his mysterious mission — one that turns out to be far twistier than the player could have ever expected.  

A Netflix "BioShock" movie has been in the works since 2022, and considering what a stellar job Prime Video has done with "Fallout," fans will no doubt be eager to see if it can capture its source material's unique atmosphere, brutality, and unnerving moments. Now that Mr. House is on the table in "Fallout" season 2, the show has already proved just what a captivating antagonist a Howard Hughes archetype can be in a post-apocalyptic setting — and I, for one, would really like to see if Netflix can do the same with Ryan. After all, considering the budget cuts the "BioShock" movie's director, Francis Lawrence, revealed in May and the ensuing focus on smaller-scale storytelling, the Rapture bigwig might be just the ticket to anchor the film with a compelling performance.

"Fallout" season 2 is streaming on Prime Video.