Although the Grand Theft Auto franchise is largely an anthology series, some of the games have direct connections to each other. Grand Theft Auto is one of the biggest video game franchises of all-time with over 435 million copies sold across all of its games. It sits behind Call of Duty and Mario, franchises with significantly more entries. While some franchises tend to plateau over time, Grand Theft Auto continues to trend upwards at a rapid rate and repeatedly break sales records. It’s a juggernaut for Rockstar Games thanks to its vast open-worlds, rich stories, and over the top characters. Rockstar is known for creating ridiculous characters across all of its franchises, but the ones in GTA stand out the most.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Even with just a single trailer with next to no story details and a piece of promotional art, fans are already excited over GTA 6‘s two new protagonists, Lucia and Jason. The former will mark the debut of GTA’s first true female protagonist, something fans have hoped to see for many years now. Not much is known about the story of GTA 6 beyond the fact it will be a Bonnie and Clyde-esque story, so fans are left to speculate. Naturally, this has led some fans to wonder if we might see any familiar faces in GTA 6. It seems likely at least one character from GTA 5 might pop up in GTA 6, especially since Rockstar has a history of cameos in its games.
However, there is one thing to note. Rockstar Games made an interesting distinction with the GTA series after GTA: San Andreas. There are different GTA “universes”, there’s the lesser-known 2D universe which focuses on the early top-down entries of the series pre-GTA 3. Then there’s the 3D universe which is the entire PS2-era of the series from GTA 3 to GTA: San Andreas and the two spin-offs. Finally, there’s the HD universe which is everything from GTA 4 and onward.
This means none of the characters from the 3D era have ever crossed over to the HD universe. There may be some subtle tongue-in-cheek references, but nothing direct. With that said, here are some cameos across the various GTA games that you may have missed.
GTA 5 – Packie McReary
GTA 5 has a pretty massive cameo that players can quite literally miss if they drive right past him. While driving past a drug store in Strawberry early on in the game, players can find GTA 4 character Packie McReary doing a robbery. Players can either choose to kill him or give him a ride. If you help him escape, he will then be an optional heist member on all the heists in the game’s single player and he’s incredibly valuable. In the various heists, he helps ensure players get the maximum possible score and is an expert marksman against the police.
During The Paleto Bay heist, Packie will even recount the iconic Three Leaf Clover heist which inspired GTA 5 and note how he lost contact with Niko after leaving Liberty City. If you’re looking to replay GTA 5, it’s worth looking for Packie and adding him to your crew before you get too deep into the story. Packie also survives canonically survives through the end of GTA 5, so maybe this GTA 4 character will make a cameo in GTA 6 as well.
GTA 5 – Michelle/Karen
Niko’s love interest, Michelle, proved to be nothing more than a cruel betrayal in GTA 4. The kind-hearted woman Niko is introduced to is later revealed to be a government agent assigned to keep tabs on him. Her real name is actually Karen and her career in law enforcement eventually leads her to San Andreas for the events of GTA 5.
During the mission Three’s Company where Michael, Franklin, and Trevor extract Mr. K from the IAA building, Karen can be seen torturing the aforementioned target. Karen also pops up in The Human Labs Raid in GTA Online as well.
GTA 4 – All Three Protagonists (Niko, Luis, and Johnny)
When Grand Theft Auto 4 first came out, it was announced way ahead of time that there would be two story expansions. However, Rockstar didn’t actually tell anyone what these expansions would be about or who you’d play as. As you play through the story of GTA 4, you encounter the protagonists of each of the expansions without even knowing they’d be fully fleshed out characters you’d play as later down the line.
In GTA 4, Johnny is in the mission Blow Your Cover and Luis can be seen in the missions Three Leaf Clover and Diamond’s Are a Girl’s Best Friend. All three characters intersect in the mission Museum Piece and there’s various crossovers in the respective DLCs as well where you see the events of their stories from different perspectives.
Johnny also notably appears briefly in GTA 5. During Trevor’s introduction scene part way through the story, Johnny comes to confront Trevor for having an affair with his girlfriend. However, Trevor quickly asserts his dominance and caves Johnny’s head in with the bottom of his boot. Luis has yet to be seen outside of GTA 4, but is referenced by Gay Tony in GTA Online.
GTA: San Andreas – Claude and Catalina
GTA 3 protagonist makes an appearance in GTA: San Andreas, making him the only protagonist from the mainline games of the 3D era to appear in a different game. Both CJ and Tommy Vercetti only appear in their own games, but there may be logistical reasons for that. Claude has no voice actor, therefore it’s pretty easy to insert him wherever Rockstar wishes. Ray Liotta, however, was likely much harder and more expensive to nab even for a mere cameo.
Claude appears with Catalina in San Andreas to race CJ. This may throw some fans for a loop given Claude kills Catalina in GTA 3, but this is because San Andreas canonically takes place before GTA 3. This game is technically the start of their very troubled relationship, helping fill some gaps in the timeline for that story.
GTA: San Andreas – Ken Rosenberg
Ken Rosenberg, played by the great William Ficthtner, is one of the key supporting characters in GTA: Vice City thanks to his close relationship with the mob and Tommy Vercetti. Unfortunately, his erratic behavior and addiction to drugs eventually drives a rift between the two before he eventually ends up in San Andreas for rehab.
Naturally, this leads CJ to helping him in GTA: San Andreas after he’s been disbarred as a lawyer and fallen on hard times. Years after the events of Vice City, Rosenberg is now a target of the mob and CJ has to help him out of this jam.
GTA: Vice City – Phil Cassidy
Phil Cassidy is a very minor character in GTA 3, serving as nothing more than an arms dealer that you have to work with in a single mission. However, he has a much more substantial role in GTA: Vice City where he’s played by actor Gary Busey. He appears in a handful of missions in Vice City, serving as an arms dealer and explosives expert to Tommy. This appearance also shines a light on why the character is missing an arm, as the final mission with Cassidy reveals that a mishandling of an explosive caused him to blow his own arm off.
Phil Cassidy also appears in GTA: Vice City Stories and GTA: Liberty City Stories with the former featuring him in 11 missions. He is also referenced in Manhunt, another Rockstar title that is believed to share a universe with the GTA games due to some Easter eggs in both games.
GTA 5 – Lazlow Jones
The only character to ever cross over between the different GTA universes is fan-favorite radio host Lazlow Jones. Technically, he never appears in the flesh until GTA 5, but he is a radio host in almost every GTA game. He is also one of the few people in the series that is also a real person. Lazlow was a real employee at Rockstar Games, known for helping write the in-game radio and TV content in addition to being a producer and voice actor.
Lazlow was a highlight for fans of the radio in the GTA games, but he took a larger role in GTA 5. Lazlow appears in person during the game’s campaign as a sort of sex pest who leverages his power as someone in the entertainment business to take advantage of women. Michael confronts Lazlow after seeing the radio host dancing inappropriately with his daughter, Tracy. This leads to a big pursuit which ends with Michael and Trevor forcing Lazlow to strip and dance naked while recording it. Lazlow and Tracy later meet up a tattoo parlor where Michael pins him down and tattoos crude images on his chest, pierces his face, and cuts off his signature ponytail. The character also appears in GTA Online.
This will likely mark the final appearance from Lazlow in GTA, however. The real life version of Lazlow departed Rockstar Games in early 2020 when GTA 6 would’ve still been in its infancy. He is now working with Rockstar Games co-founder on new projects at a new studio called Absurd Ventures.
