Summary
- GTA 6 will feature a dynamic duo as its main protagonists, inspired by real-life crime partners Bonny and Clyde.
- The relationship between the two protagonists will be at the heart of GTA 6's story, providing a major source of drama.
- The game's reveal trailer emphasizes the romantic and criminal partnership between the protagonists, setting the tone for the narrative.
For the best part of a decade, fans have been desperately pleading for a Grand Theft Auto 6 reveal, and the anticipation for the sequel reached a fever pitch with a sudden influx of information brought about by the monumental Rockstar leaks of last September. With entire early builds of the game leaking online, eager fans were able to dive into the well-unfinished project and learn a ton of information about the sequel, including GTA 6's assumed protagonists, a man and a woman, both partners in crime and life.
Many fans pretty much believed these Grand Theft Auto 6 leaks wholeheartedly, and over the last year or so those same fans have been convinced that GTA 6 will follow these two leaked protagonists. Well, it seems as though those leaks might have been true after all, as Grand Theft Auto 6's reveal trailer puts the duo front and center. But while GTA fans are now accustomed to multiple playable protagonists, Grand Theft Auto 6's duo might differ from GTA 5's team in some pretty major ways.
GTA 6's Main Protagonist Dynamic Will Be Very Different From GTA 5's
GTA 5 Centered on a Misfit Team of Criminals
What was a major departure for the franchise at that point, Grand Theft Auto 5 gave players three playable characters. While main missions usually had to be played as a specific character, players could swap characters on the fly while in free-roam. Michael, Trevor, and Franklin, each of these characters is fairly distinct from one another, but all end up joining forces to go on a crime spree through Los Santos.
After a robbery goes south, Michael escapes to Los Santos where he spends the next nine years trying his hardest to live a "normal" suburban life. However, that soon falls apart when he encounters the aspirational criminal and former gang member Franklin, who ends up inadvertently breaking Michael out of his midlife crisis by helping him get back into a life of crime, which in turn ends up bringing Trevor - one of Michael's former heist partners - back into his life. While the three Grand Theft Auto 5 protagonists are often viewed as close partners in crime, there's always an underlying sense of tension between them, and a feeling that none of them trust each other.
GTA 6 is Focusing on a Bonny and Clyde-Like Duo
Grand Theft Auto 6, on the other hand, is going for a much more personal dynamic between its two protagonists. When GTA 6's protagonists were first leaked over a year ago, it was rumored that their dynamic was heavily inspired by the real-life crime partners Bonny and Clyde, and the official GTA 6 reveal trailer does seem to lean into this theory pretty heavily.
During the Grand Theft Auto 6 reveal trailer, fans see Lucia and her still-unnamed partner a handful of times. In these brief snippets, the duo are portrayed as romantic partners who commit robberies together, just like Bonny and Clyde. The trailer ends with Lucia asking her partner, "Trust?" To which he replies "Trust" back, and the camera cuts to them robbing a convenience store.
Ending the trailer like this is probably no coincidence, and it seems likely that Rockstar really wants to leave fans with the feeling that this relationship and, presumably tumultuous, romance is going to be at the very heart of Grand Theft Auto 6's story, acting as the main source of drama for the whole narrative. While GTA 5 occasionally played up the drama between its protagonists, especially during its final mission, it seems as though GTA 6 is leaning all the way into that.
OpenCritic Reviews
- Released
- November 19, 2026
- ESRB
- Rating Pending - Likely Mature 17+
- Developer(s)
- Rockstar Games
- Publisher(s)
- Rockstar Games
WHERE TO PLAY
Grand Theft Auto VI heads to the state of Leonida, home to the neon-soaked streets of Vice City and beyond in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series yet.
Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them. But when an easy score goes wrong, they find themselves on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, in the middle of a criminal conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida — forced to rely on each other more than ever if they want to make it out alive.
- Franchise
- Grand Theft Auto
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
