Diksha Sundriyal
The second season of Prime Video’s ‘Fallout’ introduces several new characters who are primed to play an important role in the conflicts that are to play out over the course of the season. One of those characters is presented in the third episode, when Ella Purnell’s Lucy ends up in an enemy camp called the Legion. Here, she meets many interesting people who live by their own laws, even if there are several historical inaccuracies in what they do. The one that stands out is the role played by Macaulay Culkin. While a good part of the episode focuses on Lucy’s capture and her subsequent escape, it also sets the grounds for the ‘Home Alone’ actor’s expanded presence in the series. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Macaulay Culkin’s Character Introduces a New Faction of the Wasteland
After humanity recovered from the nuclear apocalypse, courtesy of Vault-Tec and other billionaires, several factions popped up across the country, running the world on their own laws. Macaulay Culkin’s character represents one of the factions known as the Legion. While the character’s name is revealed in the third episode, he is credited as Lacerta Legate, which reveals the character’s position in the Legion rather than what he is called. He is not borrowed from the games, which serve as the source material for the series. It is clear that he is the right-hand man of the leader, Caesar (or rather, Kaiser, as they pronounce it). He is merciless and doesn’t like it when the slaves run away.
The one that Lucy saved just hours ago was killed in one fell swoop by the Legate. He is also not very keen on historical accuracy or the correct pronunciation of terms, much like the rest of the Legion. And more importantly, he doesn’t take well to unsolicited offers of brokering peace with his enemies, which Lucy learns the hard way. For Culkin, joining the world of ‘Fallout’ felt entirely natural. He had been a fan of the first season, and his wife, Brenda Song, had pointed out how he would fit well with the post-apocalyptic Wasteland. So, a few months later, when the role came his way, he didn’t have to think a lot before accepting it because he knew he belonged there.
For the show’s creators, his addition to the cast was another notch in the belt for the series, which already boasts an incredible set of actors. Showrunner Geneva Robertson-Dworet revealed that Culkin brought a “very particular read on the kind of character that he wanted to play within the Legion.” The actor was given a lot of rein over how he wanted to present the character. So, he brought up several versions and tried to do something new with every take, deeply exploring the Legate and taking him in unexpected and exciting directions.
The Legate’s Story is Just Beginning in Fallout
The Legion and Macaulay Culkin’s Lacerta Legate come into the picture when Lucy comes to the camp with the wounded woman she saved a short while ago. Lucy thought she’d helped the woman, but the Legate killed her the moment they met. Then, he takes Lucy to his leader, Caesar, and they start talking about Lucy’s prima noctis, while she points out that the things they are doing and the way they are pronouncing Caesar are not historically accurate. Soon, she discovers that the Legion holding her captive is one of the two Legions operating in the area. The second is on the other side of the hill. It turns out that when their founding Caesar died, he wrote the name of his successor on a piece of paper and put it in his pocket. But on his death, no one bothered to read the name.
Rather, another man tried to take the position of Caesar, splitting the Legion in two, and the factions have been at war ever since. Meanwhile, the dead Caesar’s body lies in the middle of what is now no man’s land. Lucy offers to help resolve this conflict, but the Legate doesn’t care for her offer, and she is put up on a cross. She would have died if it weren’t for the Ghoul showing up to make a deal in return for her freedom. He offers the Legion the location of the remaining members of the New California Republic, one of the factions with which the Legion has been at war for the past couple of decades. Before leaving, the Ghoul finds a way to make the explosives in the camp go off, which initiates a war between the two Legions.
The Ghoul hopes that both parties will kill each other, thereby resolving several conflicts at once. However, Culkin’s presence in the show’s trailer, which features a scene that doesn’t appear in the third episode, shows that this isn’t the last we have seen of the Legate. He mentioned the ongoing conflict between the Legion, the NCR, the Brotherhood, and the Khans, and it is fair to assume that we will see one or more of these players face off around the finale. At the same time, the Ghoul’s betrayal will also be remembered by the Legate, who might become the new Caesar after the current two Caesars die in the battle sparked by the Ghoul. The Legate will certainly want to balance the book on that one.
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