“Four Protagonists?” — Rockstar Briefly Mulled Doubling GTA 6's Playable Cast

Before we ever learned that GTA 6 would feature dual protagonists Jason and Lucia, fans speculated endlessly about how many playable characters Rockstar's next epic would include. As it turns out, the number wasn't always destined to be two.

Grand Theft Auto 5 broke new ground for the series by expanding the playable roster to three, a departure from the single-protagonist formula of earlier entries. Red Dead Redemption 2 also featured multiple leads, but for story reasons, players couldn't switch between them in the GTA 5 style. This left fans wondering which approach Rockstar would take for GTA 6.

In a recent visit to Rockstar North, IGN spoke with co-studio head Rob Nelson, who revealed that the team once entertained the idea of bumping the character count to four. Ultimately, however, they settled on a single couple, prioritizing the bond between player and character above all else.

“As the narrative unfolds, we're quite conscious to ensure players spend enough time with each character,” Nelson explained. “After GTA 5, we discussed various possibilities—should we add more characters? How do you follow up three? Is it four now? But we were worried about spreading player time too thin, which would weaken their connection to each character. So we decided to go with two characters in a relationship.”

The next hurdle was making players feel invested in both. Chemistry is notoriously difficult to achieve in any form of entertainment—either the characters and their actors have it, or they don't. “Everyone involved worked hard to make it click,” Nelson said. “I think we've succeeded. The internal reaction suggests they shine both individually and as a pair.”