Walton Goggins has teased major revelations for his enigmatic character, the Ghoul, in the highly anticipated second season of Prime Video's Fallout. The actor promises a deeper, "mind-bending" exploration of Cooper Howard's past when the show returns this week.
Unravelling The Ghoul's Mysterious Past
The hit sci-fi drama, based on the legendary video game franchise, premieres its second season on Wednesday, 17th December. Season one introduced audiences to the scarred bounty hunter, revealing he was once a famous pre-war actor named Cooper Howard, mutated and granted longevity by extreme radiation.
Goggins set the stage for the new episodes, reflecting on the shocking first-season cliffhanger. "Season one, he realises his wife is the principal architect for the ending of the world. What a place to start a conversation," the actor stated. The storyline revealed his wife, Barb Howard (Frances Turner), a high-powered Vault-Tec executive, played a key role in the decision to drop the nuclear warheads.
New Alliances and Ruthless Truths
The upcoming season will delve into the consequences of that discovery and introduce new players. "Then there's the introduction of Robert House (Justin Theroux), what he has to say about those events unfolding in real time, and how I may factor into that. It was mind-bending," Goggins added.
With the main timeline set over 200 years after the Great War, vast gaps remain in the Ghoul's history. Key unanswered questions include:
- The precise nature of his mutation.
- His motivations for becoming a wasteland gunslinger.
- The events of the intervening centuries.
Director Jonathan Nolan hinted that season two will start to fill in these blanks, particularly through the evolving dynamic between the Ghoul and vault dweller Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell).
Character Dynamics and Survival Tests
"Lucy is slowly learning what it takes to survive in The Wasteland," Nolan shared. "How much of her pluck will survive another season of this show, while travelling with The Ghoul, which deepens our understanding of exactly how ruthless he is."
Nolan posed the central question driving Cooper Howard's arc: "Where does that come from and what happened to Cooper Howard in the past that led him to this state?" The season will also explore the journey of Brotherhood of Steel squire Maximus (Aaron Moten), testing his resolve in the harsh new world.
The stage is set for the next eight episodes to fully flesh out the origins of one of television's most compelling anti-heroes. Fallout season two premieres globally on Prime Video on Wednesday, 17th December.
