After more than a decade since the release of Grand Theft Auto 5 in 2013, Rockstar Games has come up with a major surprise to the Grand Theft Auto universe by revealing the first appearance of protagonist Michael De Santa in a new GTA Online update outside the Story mode. And what’s even better is that the developers have shown an ageing Michael and his wife, thus hinting at the game’s canonical ending.
Michael’s return is featured in the trailer for the latest GTA Online expansion update, titled ‘A Safehouse in the Hills.’ The teaser shows a noticeably older, slightly greying Michael De Santa and his wife, Amanda, greeting a player at the entrance of a luxurious new property in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Santos. This marks the first time the character, voiced by actor Ned Luke, has been explicitly seen in the Grand Theft Auto universe since the main GTA 5 campaign came out in 2013.
Return of Michael confirms ‘Deathwish’ mission as official ending
Michael’s presence in GTA Online confirms that the official, canonical ending for Grand Theft Auto 5 is ‘Option C’, known in-game as the ‘Deathwish’ mission.
This mission is the only one of the three possible final scenarios where all three main protagonists – Michael, Franklin Clinton, and Trevor Philips – survive the events of the main story. Since both Franklin and Trevor have been featured in GTA Online since its early days (Franklin is always alive, and Trevor has been present giving missions), the appearance of Michael completes the trio, cementing ‘Deathwish’ as the official conclusion to the game’s narrative.
The GTA 5 trio is complete
Franklin has long been a resident character in GTA Online, which is set after the events of GTA 5. Similarly, Trevor has been consistently present, providing online players with various missions and phone calls. However, Michael’s fate had remained largely ambiguous.
The return of Michael, along with his wife Amanda, resolves the decade-long question of whether the former professional bank robber successfully transitioned to his desired career as a Hollywood producer.
His return also gives rise to another speculation – is Rockstar Games finally done with the GTA 5 universe? Or, is the studio planning to give the trio a cameo in the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6, or GTA 6, which has been delayed to November 2026?
