Iconic GTA Character Won’t Be in GTA 6

GTA 6 won’t feature one of the characters that has been with the series since GTA 3. The Grand Theft Auto series has always prided itself on every game being fairly standalone. There are numerous characters that have appeared in multiple Grand Theft Auto games, but you won’t feel confused or lost if you haven’t played previous games. Major plot points don’t carry over, any characters that don’t make the jump play very minor roles, and Rockstar has always tried to tell new stories with each new game. Still, the fact that the games exist in the same universes (the PS2 era is officially separate from the era that began with GTA 4) does lead to fun crossovers.

With how popular and massive GTA 5 was, many are wondering if they can expect to see GTA 5 characters in GTA 6. Perhaps Michael, Trevor, and/or Franklin will pop up to help you with a mission, for instance. The actors had a great experience working on the game and have continued to engage with fans all these years later, expressing interest in working with Rockstar again if they have the means to do so. With that said, there is one GTA character who won’t be returning.

In an interview with Nerd Reactor to promote his company’s new comic book, American Caper, Lazlow Jones was asked if he would return for GTA 6. Lazlow famously played himself as a radio host in the GTA universe and even played a role in the story of GTA 5. Not only did he play a character, but Lazlow also wrote content for various Rockstar games. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that he’ll return for GTA 6.

“We left in 2020, so I doubt it,” said Lazlow. “I loved working on those games with Dan [Houser] and I was on the radio in GTA 3 and all the GTAs after that, and it was an amazing journey, working on GTA for 20 years.”

Lazlow left Rockstar Games back in 2020 following co-founder Dan Houser’s exit from the company. Houser left to go start up his own independent studio known as Absurd Ventures. The company is working on a variety of multi-media projects across podcasts, comics, animation, and video games, including a new open world game. It’s expected that their projects will all connect in a shared universe. Houser hasn’t spoken much about why he chose to leave Rockstar Games, but it’s likely he wanted a reset from making Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, but had to go elsewhere to do that. He’s joined by Lazlow, Rockstar writer Michael Unsworth, and other veterans from the GTA studio at Absurd Ventures.

GTA 6 will release on May 26th, 2026 for Xbox Series X|S and PS5.

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