Fallout, the acclaimed Amazon Prime Video series, is doing in 2026 what modern games in the franchise had avoided for years: openly using the word “drugs”. While the games had to create fictional terms like “chems” to bypass rating restrictions, the live-action adaptation, which has new episodes arriving in January, adopts the real nomenclature without hesitation. This move occurs specifically in the fourth episode of the second season, available now, where the character Lucy, played by Ella Purnell, admits her addiction. The change is significant because it reflects a narrative flexibility that the television medium possesses, but which was limited in video games, especially after pressure from rating bodies like the Australian one.
The fact immediately generated buzz among Brazilian fans, who noticed the absence of the classic jargon “chems”. Therefore, the series seems to test the limits and, at the same time, pay homage to classic titles like Fallout 2, which used the term “drugs” freely. In this way, the production not only adapts the post-apocalyptic universe but also revisits its roots, creating an interesting dialogue between media and different generations of players.
Why Did “Chems” Become Standard in Games?
The replacement with “chems” in modern games, like Fallout 3 and 4, was not a random lore choice, but rather a practical response to strict age rating rules. Because of this, distributors like Bethesda opted for fictional language to avoid sales restrictions in sensitive markets, such as Australia. However, the TV series, with its adult rating on Amazon Prime Video, does not face the same barriers. Additionally, there is an elegant narrative theory: “chems” could be a slang term from the post-war world, so a Vault dweller like Lucy would not really know it. Thus, the change in the series serves both clarity for the general audience and internal story coherence.
What to Expect from Upcoming Episodes?
With new episodes scheduled every Wednesday, Lucy’s chemical dependency arc promises to have direct consequences on the plot. The end of the episode in question shows her, alongside The Ghoul (Walton Goggins), encountering a fearsome Deathclaw on the New Vegas Strip. The big question for fans now is: will the Buffout she took still have an effect in this confrontation? Therefore, the adoption of the term “drugs” goes beyond a curious detail and connects directly to the character’s development and the dangers of the wasteland desert. This more direct approach, therefore, may influence future narratives both on TV and, perhaps, in the franchise’s upcoming games.
