Michael, Franklin and Trevor: GTA V's Three Leads

Grand Theft Auto V (2013) has three leads instead of one: Michael, Franklin and Trevor, and the player can switch between them, often in the middle of a mission. Most profiles treat the trio as a set. This page looks at what happened to each one after launch, and argues that the split produced a clear winner in Rockstar's own later use of the characters. Franklin, the youngest and the one the launch reviews had least to say about, is the one Take-Two's filings record coming back as a playable lead.

At a glance

What is counted, and how

Rockstar's own descriptions of the three come from its January 2013 release-date announcement and its current Steam copy. Critics' descriptions come from three reviews published the day before launch. Casting comes from two interviews with the actors: a 2013 GameRevolution piece and a 2025 Gamescom interview by Insider Gaming, which also gives the full names. Franklin's surname also appears in Take-Two's filings.

For "who came back," we ran full-text searches of Take-Two's Form 8-K filings on SEC EDGAR, January 2011 to October 2026, for the three leads' names. "Franklin Clinton" appears in two filings, the earnings releases of Feb 7 2022 and May 16 2022. "Trevor" and "Michael de Santa" return no 8-K results. That is a statement about what Take-Two chose to report, not proof that Michael or Trevor never appear in later content.

Arithmetic for the release table counts days from Sep 17 2013. The PC version was planned for Mar 24 2015 (Take-Two, Feb 3 2015) and released Apr 14 2015 (Take-Two, May 18 2015), a 21-day slip.

Left out: claims about how each actor was cast, which we found only in a video we could not open, and any family links between GTA actors, which we could not source beyond fan sites.

The setup

Rockstar's January 2013 copy introduced the three in one sentence each: Franklin, "a former street gangster, now looking for real opportunities and serious money"; Michael, "a professional ex-con whose retirement is a lot less rosy than he hoped it would be"; and Trevor, "a violent maniac" chasing "the next big score." Running out of options, they plan a series of heists.

The launch reviews filled in the first act. GameSpot describes Michael as dissatisfied with a life of privilege, with a failing marriage, a daughter who wants reality TV fame and a son who spends his days trash-talking in online games. Franklin is a talented young driver and repo man with few ways up until a chance meeting with Michael, who takes him under his wing. Game Informer places Trevor in "the trailer park outskirts." GameSpot calls him a former friend and associate of Michael's who lives in a desert town north of Los Santos.

The three, side by side

This table sets Rockstar's description of each lead beside how three critics read him at launch, and who played him.

Read across the GameSpot and Destructoid rows and the pattern is plain: Trevor drew the strongest reaction from critics, and Franklin the least comment. GameSpot put "Trevor is an unforgettable character" in its list of the game's strengths. Neither GameSpot nor Destructoid singled Franklin out that way.

How the split was judged

All three reviews praised the switching. Game Informer noted that the transitions are smooth and the swap is fast. GameSpot called the heists, which cast the three in different roles at once, "the current pinnacle of open-world mission design." Its main complaint was about the leads themselves: they "sometimes behave in ways that don't feel consistent," as if the mission design required it. GameSpot also listed the game's treatment of women among its weaknesses.

The actors saw the work as full performances. GameRevolution's 2013 piece describes Ogg as "the voice and visage of Trevor." That matches what Dan Houser told GameSpot in 2011 about Rockstar's approach: voice and movement captured as one performance, by top-level actors who are "just not famous ones."

What happened next

The table lists the releases that carried the trio forward, and where Take-Two's filings record one of them returning.

Sales over the same stretch, all Take-Two sell-in figures: more than 32.5 million units by Feb 3 2014, more than 45 million on console by Feb 3 2015, and nearly 52 million by May 18 2015. From the first figure to the third is an increase of roughly 19.5 million units (52 minus 32.5) in a little over 15 months; both inputs are approximate, so the result is too. For the full sales record see /library/gta-sales-history.

Spoilers

GameSpot's review describes the middle of the story: Trevor reappears in Michael's life after a long estrangement, and the tension between them shapes the whole crew, though the speed with which they start working together again sits oddly with their distrust. GameSpot also criticized a mission in which Trevor tortures a man on the orders of a corrupt government official, saying the scene undercuts the satire it seems to intend. We do not describe the ending.

Legacy

GTA V proved that a GTA story could share its lead role. GTA VI, due Nov 19 2026, keeps the idea with two protagonists, Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos (see /library/lucia-and-jason). In the years between, Rockstar's own reported use of the trio favored the lead the launch reviews said least about. Franklin got a new story with Dr. Dre in 2021, eight years after his debut. For the earlier leads, see /library/niko-bellic and /library/carl-johnson. For the city, see /library/los-santos, and for the game, /library/gta-v.

Trivia

• Rockstar released three trailers on Apr 30 2013, one centered on each lead (Game Informer, Apr 25 2013).
• Steven Ogg was frustrated by the game's long install before he could play it himself, GameRevolution reported (Sep 27 2013).
• Fonteno said he felt "like changing [his] name to Franklin," as GameRevolution put it (Sep 27 2013).
• Ogg told CGMagazine in 2025 that GTA V was the only video game he had worked on.
• At Gamescom in August 2025, Fonteno said the GTA V cast is "still riding this wave" (Insider Gaming).
• Take-Two called GTA V the best-selling video game of 2013 (Take-Two, Feb 3 2014).

Sources

• Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar Games Announces Grand Theft Auto V Release Date, Jan 31 2013
• Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar Games Announces Grand Theft Auto V, Nov 3 2011
• Game Informer, Matt Helgeson, New Grand Theft Auto V Trailers Coming April 30, Apr 25 2013
• GameSpot, Carolyn Petit, Grand Theft Auto V Review, Sep 16 2013 (read via Wayback Machine)
• Game Informer, Matt Bertz, Grand Theft Auto V Review, Sep 16 2013
• Destructoid, James Stephanie Sterling, Review: Grand Theft Auto V, Sep 16 2013
• GameRevolution, Daniel Bischoff, Grand Theft Auto V's Trevor Had Trouble Playing His Own Game, Sep 27 2013
• Insider Gaming, Grant Taylor-Hill, Gamescom interview with Shawn Fonteno and Ned Luke, Aug 21 2025
• CGMagazine, Dayna Eileen, Steven Ogg interview, Jun 28 2025
• Take-Two Interactive, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1, Sep 20 2013
• Take-Two Interactive, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1, Feb 3 2014
• Take-Two Interactive, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1, Feb 3 2015
• Take-Two Interactive, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1, May 18 2015
• Take-Two Interactive, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1, Feb 7 2022
• Take-Two Interactive, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1, May 16 2022
• Steam store page, Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced
• GameSpot, Shaun McInnis, Dan Houser Opens Up About Grand Theft Auto III, Oct 21 2011 (read via Wayback Machine)
• GTA VI Forum FACTS.md, F1, F34, F35, from rockstargames.com/VI/only-in-leonida