GTA 6's successor at Rockstar reportedly surfaces, and it's not Red Dead Redemption 3

Rockstar Games has reportedly settled on its next project after GTA VI, and it might not be the highly anticipated Red Dead Redemption 3.

We’re less than two months away from the release of Grand Theft Auto VI, the next entry in Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto series. The game takes us back to the Miami-inspired Vice City, and once GTA VI is finally out in the wild, many fans will be hoping Rockstar turns its attention to Red Dead Redemption 3.

However, according to a recent claim, Rockstar Games’ next release might not be a new Red Dead after all. Instead, it could be a sequel to 2011’s L.A. Noire.

Is Rockstar Games making L.A. Noire 2?

The source of this latest claim is a member of GTA Forums known as Shahanshah who notes that an L.A. Noire sequel is Rockstar Games’ next project. However, until we get any official confirmation, that speculation should be taken with a pinch of salt.

The initial rumours of a sequel began circulating in 2023, but the criminal profile on which the game would supposedly be based is only believed to have been revealed recently. The rumoured criminal profile is the Zodiac Killer.

If this rumour is true, it would be quite a shift from L.A. Noire, developed by Team Bondi. While crimes from the 1940s inspired the investigation game, it wasn't inspired by one specific serial killer, or at least a real-life named killer.

The rumoured sequel would reportedly be set in San Francisco, a location where the Zodiac Killer was active. If the game is indeed based on the killer, it’s likely that L.A. Noire 2 would be set in the 1960s.

Shahanshah also claims that Rockstar Games wants to take the facial scanning and animation in the rumoured sequel to the next level.

L.A. Noire, Rockstar Games

The closest we've come thus far to a sequel to L.A. Noire is the controversially named spiritual successorWhore of the Orient. It was being developed by Team Bondi and would have been set in 1930s Shanghai, China. The game was planned to be released sometime in 2015 on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

The reason why Whore of the Orient was cancelled has never been announced publicly. It’s believed that with a combination of publisher and investment problems, the game was ultimately lost amongst the chaos.

It should be stated that Whore of the Orient was not a Rockstar Games project, despite its close connection. In 2013, unfinished gameplay of Whore of the Orient was leaked, and that’s the most the public had ever seen of the cancelled game.

Could Rockstar Games release L.A. Noire 2 before Red Dead Redemption 3?

That’s the big question, and if a sequel to L.A. Noire comes true, it will be interesting to see how the video game community reacts. Sure, there are a lot of gamers out there who would love to see it happen. That being said, perhaps not at the expense of Red Dead Redemption 3.

Perhaps in an ideal scenario, much like what Rockstar Games did with Red Dead Redemption 2 after GTA V, it would soon begin work on the unannounced RDR3 shortly after the launch of GTA VI. Then perhaps, Team Bondi (or whoever it might be) could simultaneously work on the L.A. Noire sequel. As always, we’ll keep you posted when we learn more.

Grand Theft Auto VI will be released on November 19, 2026, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.