Despite only covering two modern entries, the Red Dead Redemption franchise is one of the most high-profile in gaming. Considered by many as the best Wild West gaming experience ever made, the Rockstar franchise has grown to rival the likes of Grand Theft Auto and beyond. A lot of discussion still surrounds 2018’s Red Dead Redemption 2, with it being clear that fans of the IP are desperate for any new developments that may surface from Rockstar or other sources close to the games.
This is best evidenced by some recent comments made by Rob Wiethoff, the voice actor for Red Dead Redemption‘s beloved John Marston. Wiethoff’s statements about an exciting upcoming project led to an explosion of theories and debate within the RDR community, although it seems that these comments may not have been referring to Red Dead Redemption whatsoever. While disappointing, the intense community response to the prospect of a new Red Dead project is a testament to just how popular the franchise is. With this in mind, it seems a shame for Red Dead Redemption to lay dormant, and there are some obvious steps that Rockstar could take to keep the franchise alive and kicking over the coming years.
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Although GTA 6 can be expected to be quite different from Red Dead Redemption 2, one of the latter’s systems should make its way into the former.
Red Dead Redemption’s Potential Has Still Not Been Capitalized On By Rockstar
Rob Wiethoff has a very close relationship with the Red Dead Redemption community, often interacting with fans through livestreams to detail his experiences with the franchise. This close relationship puts extra attention on his potential knowledge of future RDR projects, with the voice actor recently teasing some “exciting news” while livestreaming the original Red Dead Redemption. Wiethoff seemed to indicate that the news was related to RDR specifically, with fans quickly imagining what this could mean for the franchise.
Roger Clark, the voice actor for Arthur Morgan, has also hinted towards some Red Dead news surfacing soon, only adding to the confusion around what the franchise has in store.
Sadly, however, Wiethoff later clarified in a separate livestream that he does not make any official announcements on behalf of Rockstar, with fans now instead believing that the news in question could be related to something like a Red Dead cast meet-up event. There is still a minor possibility that Wiethoff could have been referring to the heavily rumored Nintendo Switch 2 or enhanced Xbox Series X/S and PS5 ports of RDR2, although this is still unconfirmed, and seems unlikely given the backtracking.
Away from these potential ports, fans clearly want more from RDR as a whole, with many hopeful theories originally suggesting that Wiethoff’s comments may have indicated that a Red Dead Redemption remaster or even remake may have been in the works. Fans have been wanting a revamped version of the original RDR ever since its sequel launched in 2018, with the improved game engine of RDR2 and the shared locations of both games seeming like a perfect match for such a project. While Wiethoff’s comments were clearly not referring to this, the desire for this kind of release is clearly there.
Red Dead Redemption Can Still Have a Place in the GTA 6 Era
Of course, Rockstar’s attention will firmly be placed on Grand Theft Auto 6 over the coming years, although that does not mean that Red Dead should be temporarily abandoned to facilitate this. Other fans have been quite receptive to non-gaming Red Dead projects for some time now, with the prospect of a live-action movie or TV adaptation based on the series having some potential to introduce the IP to a wider audience.
It is no secret that live-action gaming adaptations are often quite divisive, but the layered characters and stories of the Red Dead world could be quite conducive to a big-budget production. While the concept of something like RDR3 seems way-off in the impending shadow of GTA 6, there are still so many avenues that the gunslinging series can explore. The recent short-lived excitement around Wiethoff’s comments echoes this, with the likes of tasteful adaptations or a fully-fledged revisit of the original RDR being just a few examples of the kind of treatment that the IP deserves.