The stars behind GTA 5’s Franklin, Michael, and Trevor, along with the voice of CJ from San Andreas, were asked if they had any advice for the actors playing GTA 6’s Jason and Lucia now that the game is almost here.
The long wait for GTA 6 is almost over. After 13 years, the game is finally set to release on November 19 in one of the biggest (and potentially most expensive) pop culture moments in history.
Knowing just how passionate Rockstar’s fanbase can be, actors who starred in previous games in the franchise shared their words of wisdom with the as-yet unannounced actors who are playing Jason and Lucia, the dual protagonists of GTA 6, in an interview with All Out Gaming at MCM Comic Con.
“Have fun,” CJ’s actor, Young Maylay, said.
“To be honest, just listen to what Rockstar says,” Shawn ‘Solo’ Fonteno, famous for playing Franklin in GTA 5, added. “They’re gonna lead you in the right direction. … But get ready. That’s all I can say, is get ready. It’s a ride that they’re gonna be on for a while.”
Young Maylay continued, remarking on how the GTA games have garnered dedicated fanbases from multiple generations of players. “We’ll always be the characters that we are, and for the generation of kids who are coming up, you’re gonna have certain brackets,” he said.
“Right now, I got all the OGs. Everybody coming in my line — you catch some youngsters, but you got guys with the grey hair coming in saying, ‘Hey man! You’re the guy, CJ!’ And they [gesturing to the GTA 5 cast] have all the youngsters right now. So, during this time period, you’re gonna grow with your fanbase. It’s not like everything’s gonna get shut down by you guys [speaking of GTA 6]… we’ll always be those characters, and you can’t take that from us.”
Ned Luke, who played Michael De Santa in GTA 5, urged the upcoming stars to be grateful for the game’s fans. “Just make sure that you appreciate the fans. Let the fans know… fake appreciation, they can smell it. You have to really appreciate them, genuinely, because what we have is because of them. If you don’t have the fans, you don’t got nothin’. They’re the game, and that’s the bottom line,” he imparted.
The cast’s warm sentiments toward GTA fans is at odds with one particular star in the franchise: Steven Ogg, who infamously said he felt “nothing inside” regarding GTA 6 because he’s “not a gamer” and has “never played a video game” before. That being said, he did suggest killing off his character at the beginning of GTA 6 as a means of “passing the torch” to the next era. “I think that would be cool, because it also acknowledges the fans of like, ‘Hey, thank you.’ Pass the torch, stomp Trevor’s head in, and sort of put an end to that and allow a new generation to take over,” he mused back in 2025.
Thus far, the actors who play Jason and Lucia have not been officially announced, though fans are extremely convinced that they’ve discovered the gal who lent her facial features to Jason’s partner in crime. Fans suspect she will be played by an actress named Manni L. Perez, as she has the exact same voice and bears a strong resemblance with the GTA protagonist. (For her part, she’s been very careful to honor her supposed NDA, if she really is involved in the project.)
The fervor around GTA 6 is at an all-time high. Rockstar is ramping up marketing for the title in a major way with a Vice City-themed takeover of Miami that includes massive signs advertising the fictional city, even partnering with the Miami Heat to give the team some Vice City uniforms for their November 18 game against the Milwaukee Bucks. Players will even get a chance to eat at one of the game’s fast food joints, Burger Shot, at the Kaseya Center while they watch the two teams face off on the court.
Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.
