The latest episode of Fallout Season 2 on Prime Video — and spoilers after this point — ends with the reveal of a brand new character, played by actor and comedian Kumail Nanjiani. Who is this mysterious man? It’s none other than Paladin Xander Harkness, and he’s a representative of The Commonwealth.
Two follow-up questions: he’s who? From the what?
Great questions, so let’s do a brief recap of how Nanjiani shows up on Fallout Season 2, Episode 2, “The Golden Rule,” and then a breakdown of what we know from the games.
In the episode, the Brotherhood of Steel has occupied Area 51, alien carcasses and all. Their goal? Elder Quintus (Michael Cristofer) gathers Elders from other chapters of the Brotherhood to encourage them to rise up against The Commonwealth, a chapter that seems to be in charge of the others — or at least, must stronger than the others. Quintus has an ace up his sleeve, which is the cold fusion technology the Brotherhood came into possession of, and was the MacGuffin of Season 1 of Fallout. To celebrate, they have a whole death fight thing, with Maximus (Aaron Moten) forced into combat with a hulking brute… Who he seemingly kills.
Just then, Paladin Xander Harkness arrives in a “daddy’s home” moment.
“Sorry to interrupt,” he says. “Paladin Harkness. Liaison from The Commonwealth. I understand we’re discussing a Civil War? I must have not gotten my invitation.”
“And yet here you are,” Elder Quintus says, chuckling. “Welcome.”
Harkness sees Maximus standing over the unconscious body of the other gladiator, and gives him a “how’s it going buddy, nice job” type nod, to which Maximus, stunned, nods back. End of episode!
Okay, preamble out of the way: what’s going on here?
What Is The Commonwealth On Fallout?
First thing’s first, this is a different Commonwealth than the Commonwealth on The Walking Dead, which is also a more organized society than you usually find in the post-apocalypse. So no, this is not a crossover episode, if you were wondering. Which you probably weren’t.
The Commonwealth comprises most of the Eastern coast of what was the United States, and is centralized in what used to be Boston. It’s mentioned in Fallout 3 and is the main setting in Fallout 4, and looks like it might become a major location in Fallout on Prime Video as well (though having watched through Episode 6 of this season, likely not until a potential Fallout Season 3).
There’s a lot of history to the Commonwealth that’s not directly relevant here, particularly as the TV series takes place in 2296 — beyond the timeline of Fallout 4, which is set mostly in 2287. In the game, various factions are vying for control of the area, with multiple endings possible based on which faction you’re playing. However, in the show it seems clear that it’s the Brotherhood that gained control of the Commonwealth… So when you hear about them on the show, it’s less “what is the Commonwealth” and more “the Eastern seaboard is under control of a powerful faction of the Brotherhood.” There might be more to it, but as of Season 2, Episode 2 of the TV series, TBD.
Who Is Paladin Xander Harkness, And Is He In The Fallout Games?
Paladin Xander Harkness is a relatively new character to the franchise, but he has appeared in one of the games before: the mobile game Fallout Shelter, where he was simply introduced as “Paladin.” That said, that was a TV tease/tie-in, so this week’s episode is really his first introduction to the Fallout universe.
In case you’re curious, without getting too far into the ranking system for the Brotherhood of Steel, you start as a Hopeful, then move to Initiate, then Knight, then Paladin, then Elder. So Elder Quintus does outrank Paladin Xander Harkness — though with the Commonwealth stronger than the faction of the Brotherhood we’ve been following thus far, there’s likely a bit of jockeying going on there.
Also of note, there are ranks within the ranks. When it comes to Paladins, you’ve got yer basic “Paladin,” then Paladin Commander, Star Paladin, Senior Paladin, and Head Paladin. Where Xander Harkness ranks in there is also TBD. There’s a lot of TBDs because he showed up at the end of an episode for, like, 30 seconds, okay? Okay.
Who Is Kumail Nanjiani? Where Do I Know Him From?
Well, I know him from when he was hosting a fun video game comedy show in New York and we used to do guest-spot trades with Comic Book Club’s live show. He’s a great guy!
But you might know him from a number of places, including his breakout role as Dinesh on HBO’s Silicon Valley, his Academy Award nominated co-writing (and non-Academy Award-nominated starring) in The Big Sick, or playing Kingo in Eternals and other appearances in the MCU.
Recently, Nanjiani had a fun appearance as a gator wrangler (sort of) on Peacock’s Poker Face, and appears in Ella McCay with his legs doing normal things (look up the Ella McCay challenge for more on that). He also just released a new stand-up special titled Night Thoughts on Hulu.
Coming up, he’ll appear in 2026’s The Breadwinner, Nate Bargatze’s first movie, as well as The Wrong Girls opposite Kristen Stewart and Seth Rogen.
You can join his 1.4 million followers on Instagram, if you have not already.
Fallout Season 2 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
New episodes of Fallout Season 2 premiere Wednesdays on Prime Video at 3am ET / 12am PT, with the exception of the season premiere, which debuts early on Tuesday, December 16 at 9pm ET / 6pm PT.
Here’s the full list of episodes in Fallout Season 2 with premiere dates:
- Tuesday, December 16, 2025: Fallout, Season 2, Episode 1
- Wednesday, December 24, 2025: Fallout, Season 2, Episode 2
- Wednesday, December 31, 2025: Fallout, Season 2, Episode 3
- Wednesday, January 7, 2026: Fallout, Season 2, Episode 4
- Wednesday, January 14, 2026: Fallout, Season 2, Episode 5
- Wednesday, January 21, 2026: Fallout, Season 2, Episode 6
- Wednesday, January 28, 2026: Fallout, Season 2, Episode 7
- Wednesday, February 4, 2026: Fallout, Season 2, Episode 8 *Season Finale*
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