‘GTA 6’ Fans Convinced Rockstar Has Quietly Already Spoiled An Ending

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Published Oct 13, 2026, 12:13 PM EDT

Patricia is the former editor-in-chief of Kotaku, where she spent a decade writing and editing. Prior to that, she served as the Culture Editor at Polygon, and as a reporter at The Verge. Hernandez specializes in Pokémon TCG, Nintendo, and offbeat internet culture stories.

A single screenshot might show exactly where GTA 6's story is headed

Image: Rockstar Games

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We can make some educated guesses about the trajectory of Grand Theft Auto 6's story, but we won't know anything for certain until after Nov. 19. At least, you'd think that would be the case. According to some hyper-observant GTA 6 fans, a major spoiler has been hiding under our noses for weeks now — and its source isn't a leak.

With only a month before release, Rockstar has kicked GTA 6's marketing into overdrive. Seemingly every week there's a new trickle of GTA 6 previews from influencers, magazines, and major news organizations. Rockstar, for its part, has updated its website with new details like the game's radio stations and new screenshots here and there. The media, in particular, hasn't gotten much fanfare from Rockstar even as the images leave fans slack-jawed.

Perhaps this is how Rockstar got away with sneaking in the screenshot at the top of this post, which depicts protagonists Jason and Lucia on the verge of kissing. Most people saw this picture and didn't think anything of it. Yet if you look closely, Jason and Lucia are surrounded by a helicopter and several police boats with officers aiming their guns right at the couple.

GTA 6 is a game about committing crimes, so a dangerous caper like this isn't surprising. Many official screenshots show Jason and Lucia narrowly avoiding law enforcement. Some of these may be composed of bullshots that don't depict anything we'll see in the final game. Others are undoubtedly snapshots of in-game story moments, like the mission that goes wrong in Netflix's Extended Look video.

The evidence that Rockstar spoiled GTA 6's ending

Rockstar has outright said that GTA 6's story is a Bonnie and Clyde-type narrative. Granted, this screenshot looks less like the 1967 movie where the police shoot Bonnie and Clyde for a frankly comical length of time and more like the bittersweet ending of 2019's Queen and Slim. Much like its source inspiration, the outlaw lovers are caught at the end. Rather than even attempting to run away, the two turn around and face the music, holding hands. Despite being unarmed and posing no threat — and seemingly on the verge of turning themselves in after sharing a tender moment — the two are savagely shot down.

Perhaps Rockstar just posed the two characters in an embrace. Infamously, however, two characters touching one another in a video game is notoriously difficult to animate. That's why, back in 2018, the video game world made such a big deal out of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us 2 trailer where the protagonists kiss. We know that players can hold hands in GTA 6, and presumably the lovers will lock lips during the game's rumored sex scenes. Yet this seems like the sort of bespoke animation that would make the most sense during a cutscene.

Rockstar Games

Could the police boat screenshot truly depict one of the game's possible endings? It certainly exudes a dramatic flair that makes sense in the context of a climax. If fans are theorizing this could depict the ending, it's because Rockstar pulled a fast one on fans back in 2013. Months ahead of Grand Theft Auto 5's release date, the game developer shared a series of artworks depicting the protagonists standing around an open car trunk. Much later, fans realized this artwork was depicting the ending's option C, Deathwish. In it, the characters kidnap game antagonist Devin Weston and stuff him in a car before executing him.

The GTA 5 image, by itself, is harmless: People can't know what it means unless they've seen the ending. It also reaffirms that Rockstar would totally pull a stunt like showing us the game's ending without fans realizing it. At least it sounds like there are multiple endings — and given Bonnie and Clyde's conclusion, a tragic option shouldn't be shocking.