GTA 5 Characters: Michael, Franklin, Trevor and the Main Cast

GTA 5 was the first game in the series with three playable protagonists, and its story constantly cuts between a retired bank robber, the young hustler he takes under his wing, and the unhinged former partner who drags them both back into crime. Around Michael, Franklin and Trevor sits a wide supporting cast of family, fixers, bent agents and gangsters. Here is who matters — kept at premise level, with no late-story spoilers. If you are jumping into Los Santos for the first time, these are the names worth remembering.

Who are the three playable characters?

Michael De Santa, born Michael Townley, is a former bank robber living in Vinewood Hills under a comfortable witness-protection arrangement, having faked his death years earlier. Wealthy, miserable and deep in a midlife crisis, he is the planner of the trio, and his buried past is the engine of the whole plot. Franklin Clinton is a young repo man from Strawberry who repossesses cars for a crooked dealership and wants more from life than the neighbourhood hustle. A gifted driver with a cool head, he becomes Michael's protégé. Trevor Philips is Michael's old partner in crime, now running a small criminal "enterprise" out of a trailer in Sandy Shores. Volatile, funny and frightening in roughly equal measure, he believed Michael was dead — and discovering otherwise is what pulls the three men together.

Who is in Michael's family and inner circle?

Michael's wife Amanda and their grown-up children, Jimmy and Tracey, supply much of the game's domestic comedy and a good deal of its heart; the family's rows and reconciliations run alongside the crime story from start to finish. His most important professional contact is Lester Crest, the trio's heist planner — a wry hacker and strategist who works from behind a wall of monitors, scopes the big scores, and also feeds Franklin the assassination missions that tie into the stock market. On the law-enforcement side, FIB agent Dave Norton is the man who arranged Michael's unusual deal, and keeping Norton onside is a thread that runs through the entire game.

Who does Franklin work with?

Franklin's best friend is Lamar Davis, a loud, loyal and spectacularly reckless fellow repo man whose money-making schemes keep landing the pair of them in trouble. Their day job comes from Simeon Yetarian, the smooth-talking car dealer who employs them both and is considerably less respectable than he pretends to be. And no cast list is complete without Chop, Lamar's Rottweiler, who effectively becomes Franklin's dog. Chop can be taken for walks, trained through the game's companion features, and for one memorable short stretch you even see the world through his eyes. Franklin's other regular contact is Tonya Wiggins, an old friend from the neighbourhood who ropes him into covering tow-truck shifts for her partner's impound business — a small sideline that captures his world perfectly: everyone around him wants a favour, and the favours never quite lead anywhere better.

Who surrounds Trevor in Sandy Shores?

Ron Jakowski is Trevor's nervous neighbour and right-hand man at Trevor Philips Enterprises — a conspiracy enthusiast who handles the business end of things while Trevor supplies the chaos. Wade Hebert is the dim but utterly devoted associate who drifts into Trevor's orbit and ends up as cook, cleaner and general dogsbody once the action moves to Los Santos. Together they reveal the other side of Trevor: for all the carnage, he inspires a strange, stubborn loyalty in the people around him, and both men would clearly follow him anywhere.

Who are the main antagonists?

The pressure on the trio comes from several directions at once. Steve Haines is a corrupt, fame-hungry FIB agent who uses the three as deniable muscle for his own career wars. Devin Weston is a billionaire investor who hires them for a very profitable job and then decides not to pay — historically, not a wise move. Martin Madrazo, a Mexican cartel boss with a Los Santos power base, is the man whose grudge first drags Michael out of retirement. None of them is the sole villain of the piece; the game's tension comes from the leads being squeezed by all of them simultaneously, while their own trust in each other starts to fray.