Looking at Grand Theft Auto's history with female protagonists amidst latest news of GTA 6

As hypeworthy as GTA 6's latest scoops are, it is worth mentioning that the upcoming title is not the first in the series to feature a female protagonist. Surprisingly, the first two main games in the series had one. The average gamer wouldn't have a clue about that, considering their obscurity from the limelight in recent years.

Still, they should likely remember that Grand Theft Auto Online had the option to play as a female protagonist. Otherwise, the series has been very barren when it comes to this type of representation.

This article will only cover the history of what gamers know up until the recent Bloomberg report on GTA 6 from July 27, 2022.

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The history of female protagonists within the Grand Theft Auto series, up until GTA 6

Some readers might wish to start with the most recent news before diving into the historical aspect. In that case, the above tweet shows Jason Schreier's report, which covers various new GTA 6 features that fans haven't seen officially revealed yet. The one relevant to this article is that there are two main playable characters, with one of them being a female protagonist.

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The beginning (Grand Theft Auto 1 and 2)

The batch of characters the player could choose from in the first game (Image via Rockstar Games)

The first Grand Theft Auto game did have female protagonists, although it is worth noting that the characterization was non-existent. What gamers should know is that the first title provided an option to select one character out of various choices. The above image shows the default selection, which includes four female protagonists, consisting of the following from left to right:

• Divine
• Mikki
• Katie
• Ulrika

Unfortunately, the only difference that Grand Theft Auto players would see when selecting the character is the various colored pixels. It's worth mentioning that Grand Theft Auto 1 was part of the 2D Universe, which had a bird's eye view of everything that was happening.

There was no characterization for any playable character here, so there isn't much to mention regarding their individual personalities.

There were two more relevant characters for this discussion on Grand Theft Auto 2's GBC port (Image via Rockstar Games)

The next and final single-player to feature a female protagonist prior to GTA 6 is Grand Theft Auto 2. More specifically, the Game Boy Color port of the game. The original Grand Theft Auto 2 only had a character named Claude Speed as the sole playable character, but the Game Boy Color port introduced several more options to replace him.

The two characters shown in the above image are Gretchen and Candy (from left to right). Like with Grand Theft Auto 1, there is no characterization, and fans play the game from a bird's eye view.

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The new era (Grand Theft Auto Online)

An example of a player creating a character in Grand Theft Auto Online (Image via Devin Grace)

Every single-player game after Grand Theft Auto 2's Game Boy Color port was devoid of a female protagonist as an option. It wasn't until GTA that players witnessed a shift.

However, the multiplayer Grand Theft Auto Online provided a great degree of customization when making the main character.

Naturally, it meant that players could play as women. Unlike the previously mentioned titles, female models in GTA Online were three-dimensional. There were also plenty of cutscenes and storylines building up the player's main character, making it the best example of a female protagonist in the series yet.

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GTA 6

Everything about GTA 6 is strictly rumors at this point, even if it comes from a credible journalist. If the report was true, then the game will feature a Latina woman as one of the two playable characters in what's described as a story inspired by Bonnie and Clyde.

There isn't much else to mention about this specific character at the moment, but she would be the first female protagonist for a single-player Grand Theft Auto game since 2000.