Ella Purnell Goes From Newborn to Bruised and Battered in Fallout Season 2 — and Still Chooses Good

Lucy MacLean is back, older, meaner, and somehow even more hopeful about humanity. Ella Purnell says playing her in Fallout season 2 felt easier this time, and honestly, you can see why.

What changed for Lucy (and for Purnell)

Purnell told GamesRadar+ that season 2 gave her a cleaner runway into the character. In season 1 she had to reach for that wide-eyed vault-dweller energy — all sunshine, zero street smarts — which is fun to watch but not exactly how most adults walk through life. Now Lucy has been out there, seen the worst of it, and is making choices with that experience baked in. She still tries to live by the golden rule and assumes people can be decent; she just has the bruises to prove how often that goes wrong.

'The choice to continue to believe in goodness when you've been shown again and again how evil people can be, that's real strength.'

That mix — idealism under pressure — made Lucy more relatable for Purnell and, yeah, that tracks. Easier to play does not mean simpler; she pointed out it also makes Lucy more complicated, with a lot more going on under the hood and a lot more day-to-day choices to wrestle with.

Quick refresher: where we left her

Season 1 introduced Lucy as a naive, relentlessly optimistic vault kid who had never touched dirt, let alone Wasteland politics. Her brand-new husband turned out to be a raider from upstairs (great wedding gift), she laid him out while still in the dress, and then bolted for the surface to rescue her kidnapped dad, Hank — yes, still played by Kyle MacLachlan. The surface, predictably, did not greet her with cookies and a welcome basket. It smacked her around. By the end, she understood how unforgiving the post-apocalypse really is and had way less patience for people who make it worse.

So what is season 2 actually doing?

Short version: Lucy is done waiting for bad guys to fix themselves.

• She teams up with the Ghoul — willingly this time — to track down Hank and drag him into the light.
• She is not devastated by the revelation that her father is a villain; she processes, pivots, keeps moving.
• The road leads to New Vegas, which comes with its own hazards and some hilariously wrong takes on history.
• Expect deathclaws, legions, flea soup (yep), and a tougher Lucy who knows how to navigate a world that does not care if she survives.

From the very first episode, you can feel how the Wasteland has reshaped her — she is sharper, faster to cut through the nonsense, and honestly, pretty badass.

When and where to watch

Fallout season 2 hits Prime Video on December 17.