GTA 5's Original Leaked Endings Were Way More Brutal

"Grand Theft Auto 5" is not only the best-selling game in its series, but it has been widely praised for featuring one of Rockstar Games' most compelling storylines. Its three protagonists — Michael, Trevor, and Franklin — go through quite a transformation over the course of the game's bonkers single-player campaign, culminating in one of three intense endings. Now, thanks to a massive leak of the "GTA 5" source code and various other documents from Rockstar Games, fans have learned that the original endings for "GTA 5" were going to be much more brutal than the versions that were eventually animated.

First, a recap: In the last act of "GTA 5," Franklin is cornered by two different villains — government agent Steve Haines and corrupt billionaire Devin Weston — and told that he must eliminate one of his partners. The player is then given three options: "Kill Trevor," "Kill Michael," or "Deathwish." In the first ending, Michael and Franklin cause Trevor to crash into a fuel truck, then light him on fire. In the second, Franklin drops Michael from the top of a high tower to his death. Selecting the third will set into motion a spectacular plan that involves Franklin and his cohorts banding together and taking out all of their enemies before riding into the sunset.

Those are all pretty iconic conclusions for "GTA" players, particularly since the "Deathwish" path is recognized by Rockstar as the canonical ending to the story. However, the newly-uncovered endings are not only more gruesome than the final product, but one of them would have completely changed the post-game content in "GTA 5."

The first two alternate endings for "GTA 5" seem to play out similarly to the final product, albeit with a much higher level of gore involved. In the original "Kill Trevor" ending, Trevor would have crashed into a liquid nitrogen truck, rather than a fuel tanker. As movies like "Terminator 2" have taught us, this would have frozen the criminal solid, after which Michael would have picked up a wooden 2x4 and smashed Trevor to smithereens. The original "Kill Michael" ending involved a police helicopter flying directly below the tower where Michael and Franklin have their final standoff. After being pushed from the tower by Franklin, Michael got torn to shreds by the spinning helicopter blades.

Despite the differences, it's likely that these first two alternate endings would have resulted in similar outcomes for Franklin. Should he decide to betray one of his partners, the released version of "GTA 5" sees Franklin haunted by whatever choice he makes. After killing Trevor, Michael tells Franklin that it's time for their partnership to end. The pair splits the money from their last job and Franklin is left alone to plot what comes next for him. If Franklin kills Michael, not only will Trevor angrily distance himself from Franklin, but Franklin will also receive some heartbreaking phone calls from Michael's family, just to twist the knife a little bit more. In all three scenarios, Franklin survives, albeit a little worse for wear in the more treacherous endings. However, the remaining alternate ending would have written off Franklin entirely.

In another unfinished "GTA 5" ending, players might have seen Franklin taken off the board and replaced by his best bud, Lamar Davis. Details on how this third ending would have played out are still scarce, but it seems the name of the "Deathwish" ending might have represented a more literal choice than in the final game. Either by his own hand or his enemies', Franklin would have met an untimely end in this third option. At this point, Lamar Davis would have stepped in as a playable protagonist, allowing gamers to continue their post-campaign adventures in Los Santos (and presumably take care of Franklin's dog, Chop). In a lot of ways, Franklin Clinton is the audience surrogate character in "GTA 5," so this ending would have most likely hit players harder than the others. It's unclear if this ending would have been considered the canonical one, but it would certainly be the bleakest.

Such an ending has been hinted at for years, along with reports that Lamar was originally intended to have a much larger role in "Grand Theft Auto 5." Dataminers have been convinced for years that Lamar was meant to be a playable character at some point in the base game. Also, during a 2014 Reddit AMA, Lamar voice actor Gerald "Slink" Johnson outright said, "originally there was gonna be a different story, with Lamar being deeper involved. However, I caught a case in real life that had me 'tied up' for a few months and Rockstar had to move on, so the story became the one you see on GTA V." The latest Rockstar leaks seem to have finally confirmed these original plans.