{"id":511549,"date":"2026-07-05T23:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T23:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/511549\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T23:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T23:55:09","slug":"ned-luke-sets-rumour-mill-on-fire-about-michael-de-santas-gta-6-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/511549\/","title":{"rendered":"Ned Luke Sets Rumour Mill On Fire About Michael De Santa’s GTA 6 Return"},"content":{"rendered":"

The whole world and his wife are gearing up to play GTA VI, and with its record-breaking pre-order streak suggesting it can live up to the hype of being the biggest video game of all time, November 19 can’t come soon enough.<\/p>\n

Seeming like the perfect cocktail of old and new, Rockstar Games is visiting the titular Vice City from 2002’s GTA: Vice City, although this isn’t Tommy Vercetti’s story<\/a>. Although we hope there’s at least a nod to Tommy following the tragic passing of voice actor Ray Liotta, Lucia Caminos and Jason Duval<\/a> are taking the lead this time around. This dynamic duo will hopefully sit neatly alongside some of Grand Theft Auto<\/a>‘s other greats, but speaking of which, could some other familiar faces be taking a vacation to Vice City’s neon-splashed shores?<\/p>\n

Ned Luke Confuses Fans With Michael De Santa Tease<\/p>\n

Wouldn’t that be nice?<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ned Luke (@ned_luke) July 2, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n

Having appeared in numerous TV shows and a handful of movies, Ned Luke is best known as voicing Michael De Santa<\/a> in GTA V and GTA Online. Most recently, Luke reprised his motion and voice capture role for December 2025’s “A Safehouse in the Hills” DLC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There’s been plenty of speculation about Luke making another return for GTA VI<\/a>, with a viral post from a random X account claiming it as gospel. The OP even cited IGN, which seems odd because we imagine the gaming outlet would’ve reported it first.<\/p>\n

The internet quickly rushed to the news, with Luke himself even responding to say: “Wouldn’t that be nice?”<\/p>\n

Some took this to mean he was confirming the rumour, some thought he was being sarcastic, and others claimed he was just getting in on the hype. Either way, there’s no official word from Rockstar, or even any credible evidence that Ned Luke is coming back as Michael De Santa in GTA VI.<\/p>\n

In a 2025 interview with Dan Allen Gaming Clips<\/a>, Luke reminded us that actors are under strict NDAs and he’d have to ‘kill’ us before revealing whether he’s been involved in GTA VI. Even before Michael popped up in GTA Online, Luke expressed an interest in coming back…and he’s not the only one.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: GTA 6 Is Shaping Up To Be Cyberpunk 2 And Not In A Good Way<\/a><\/p>\n

What About Franklin And Trevor?\"RockstarRockstar Games<\/p>\n

Of course, it wouldn’t be a GTA V party without Shawn Fonteno’s Franklin and Steven Ogg’s Trevor. The various endings of GTA V put each of our protagonists in a bit of a predicament, although GTA Online has since confirmed the ‘Deathwish’ ending is canon, with all three surviving.<\/p>\n

Similar to Luke, the pair have remained tight-lipped in their potential involvement in GTA VI. Speaking to fans alongside Ned Luke at Sci-Fi Valley Con 2024 (via Popverse<\/a>), Fonteno explained: “Even if I knew, I couldn\u2019t tell you guys. You know that, man. You know it\u2019s real strict. I hope so. I hope we\u2019re back. I hope the whole crew is back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would hope so, but we\u2019ve got no answers to it. You all can tell us more about it than we could tell you about it.”<\/p>\n

Ogg is more indifferent to video games, but came up with his own genius pitch on how Trevor could appear in GTA VI. Speaking to ScreenRant<\/a>, the actor suggested: “I wish it would be fun if Trevor appeared in it just to be killed at the beginning.”<\/p>\n

This would mirror how Trevor killed off GTA IV’s Johnny Kleibitz near the start of GTA V, and despite the character’s fan-favourite status, Ogg thinks it’s time to move on as he concluded: “I think that [death pitch] 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.”<\/p>\n

With GTA VI looking to be bigger and bolder than ever, we expect there to be more than a few nods to the franchise’s eclectic past. While it remains to be seen whether Jason and Lucia will be rubbing shoulders with the old guard, it’s a delicate balancing act to make sure they’re not overshadowed in their own adventure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The whole world and his wife are gearing up to play GTA VI, and with its record-breaking pre-order…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[67618,67617,111,139,69,59207,145],"class_list":["post-511549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-gta","tag-gta-6","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rockstar-games","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}