Your guide to Fallout’s vaults and wastelands

You know how the Fallout saying goes: war never changes.

Though the setting of a Fallout story always changes — the post-apocalyptic open world took people out of the vaults to New Vegas, Washington D.C., Arroyo, and beyond — some things will hold. Humanity will turn to factions, violence, and distrust to protect themselves. There will be radiation poisoned creatures, both animal and human. That Vault Dweller’s Vault-Tec suit will always be that screaming mix of IKEA blue and yellow. And everything will be goofy and dark in pretty much equal measure.

Now, that same world of Fallout is coming to television, with a new Prime Video show executive produced by Westworld’s Jonathan Nolan. The show is in the same timeline as the games — all of them, including Fallout 76. Which means we see some familiar faces: Vault-Tec; the cold gaze of the Brotherhood of Steel power armor; that ever-chipper wink of Vault Boy; and the irradiated horror of the Ghouls. But things will also feel decidedly new; we get to follow a Vault Dweller as a character — Lucy (Yellowjacket’s Ella Purnell), who’s just as shiny to the world as you might expect — and Walton Goggins’ Ghoul has a little more history than any of the irradiated monsters of the games.

Unlike a show like The Last of Us, Amazon Prime’s Fallout exists to expand the story as we know it, to show us new aspects of the Fallout world (even if it’s once again set in Los Angeles; what can we say, Hollywood loves a wink and a nod). It’s built for fans of the series and newcomers alike, and the result is — well, it’s Fallout.

Here’s everything you might need to know about the Fallout world to understand (or just back up) the Fallout TV show.