The third episode of Fallout Season 2 arrived on December 31, 2025, bringing with it a highly anticipated new face. Macaulay Culkin makes his debut as Lacerta Legate, a high-ranking and ruthless officer within Caesar’s Legion. His entrance immediately raises the stakes for Lucy MacLean, who finds herself captured by the faction, and adds a new layer of menace to the show’s depiction of the post-apocalyptic Mojave Wasteland.
Who Is Macaulay Culkin’s Character, Lacerta Legate?
Culkin appears in Season 2, Episode 3, titled “The Profligate”. He plays Lacerta Legate, a senior commander in Caesar’s Legion, the brutal faction modeled after the Roman Empire. While the character’s name is listed in the credits, it is not spoken aloud in the episode itself.
He is introduced as Lucy is brought before the camp’s leadership. Demonstrating the Legion’s merciless nature, Lacerta Legate oversees the immediate execution of the enslaved woman Lucy had just tried to save. He then presents Lucy to the man currently claiming the title of Caesar. Culkin’s character is depicted as a true believer in the Legion’s ideology of absolute strength.
During his conversation with Lucy, he delivers the line that defines his worldview: “Good is not a meaningful vector in history, only strength.”
Lacerta Legate is an original character created for the TV series and does not appear in the Fallout video games. However, his title and role are deeply connected to game lore. In the faction’s hierarchy, a “Legate” is a general and the second-in-command, directly appointed by Caesar. Visually, the character wears a distinctive full-face mask with bull horns, similar to the armor worn by Legate Lanius, a fearsome commander from Fallout: New Vegas.
The Legion’s Civil War and Lucy’s Peril
Culkin’s Lacerta Legate is a key figure in a major conflict driving the episode’s plot. He explains to Lucy that Caesar’s Legion is embroiled in a civil war. The original Caesar from the games has died, and the faction has splintered into two rival camps fighting over the succession.
The founder’s corpse, which holds a note naming his true heir, lies in a no-man’s land between the two factions. Neither side can retrieve it without breaking a tense stalemate and being attacked by the other. Lucy, ever the negotiator, tries to use her knowledge to help, pointing out historical inaccuracies in their claimed traditions. Her efforts backfire, resulting in her being crucified and left to die in the desert sun.
The Ghoul’s Dangerous Rescue Plan
Meanwhile, The Ghoul is forced to take action to retrieve Lucy, whom he sees as vital to his own plans. After recovering from a radscorpion sting in a gruesome self-surgery scene, he seeks reinforcements to take on the Legion. He travels to Camp Golf, a former New California Republic (NCR) base, but finds it largely abandoned.
There, he has a significant encounter with Victor, a Securitron robot from Fallout: New Vegas who dug the game’s protagonist out of a grave. Victor, now voiced by Jesse Burch, is rusting and confused, having spent years thinking he was a soda machine. He directs The Ghoul to the last known NCR holdouts: two elderly rangers who have been trapped in the hills by the Legion for over a decade.
Realizing the NCR remnants are no real army, The Ghoul devises a risky plan. He returns to the Legion camp and offers to trade the location of the NCR soldiers in exchange for Lucy. After Lucy is handed over, The Ghoul uses a cherished lighter from his past—a gift from a friend—to ignite the Legion’s entire supply of dynamite as they march out. The massive explosion destroys the barrier between the two Legion factions, triggering the all-out civil war they feared and allowing The Ghoul and Lucy to escape the chaos.
A Brotherhood of Steel Crisis
In a separate storyline, the episode also sets the stage for another internal conflict within the Brotherhood of Steel. At their new headquarters in Area 51, Elder Cleric Quintus is trying to rally various chapters to rebel against the powerful Eastern chapter, the Commonwealth. His plans are complicated by the arrival of Paladin Xander Harkness, a charismatic envoy from the Commonwealth sent to retrieve a cold fusion device.
Xander, played by Kumail Nanjiani, initially seems like a refreshing change to Squire Maximus. He is less dogmatic and takes Maximus on a mission in a Vertibird, where they happily destroy a rogue Securitron. However, Xander’s true fanaticism is revealed when they storm the Sunset Sarsaparilla factory. He rounds up the ghoul and human child laborers, separates them, and prepares to execute the ghoul children, declaring them abominations. Horrified, Maximus turns Xander’s own rocket-powered super sledgehammer against him, killing the Paladin.
In the aftermath, a stunned Maximus confesses to Thaddeus, “I think I just started a war.”
His act of defiance against the Commonwealth will have severe consequences for the already fractured Brotherhood.
Also Read:
Fan Reaction to Culkin’s Casting
The announcement and reveal of Macaulay Culkin’s role generated significant excitement among fans. Showrunner Geneva Robertson-Dworet, a longtime fan of Culkin, praised his unique approach to the character. His co-star, Walton Goggins, also expressed enthusiasm, stating, “When they told me, I just lit up because I think the world of him.”
On social media, fans have shared their reactions to his performance. One Facebook user noted the casting was “such a wild choice” but found his performance “near perfect… cause it’s soooooooo unexpected”. Another compared his unsettling presence to “Robin-Williams-in-1 Hour Photo”. Culkin himself is reported to be a fan of the Fallout universe, often watching lore videos on YouTube.
Also Read: Gen V vs. The Boys: A Deep Dive into Which Amazon Hit Series Hits Harder
