It could be another decade before we see another Red Dead Redemption game. Video games take a very long time to make, especially Rockstar video games, and we have GTA6 next up on the Rockstar slate, so our next trip back to the Old West could be a very long way away indeed. There were eight years between RDR and RDR2, and the development time is only getting more drawn out, so expect the years to hit double figures before RDR3 rolls around. However and whenever it happens though, we need more Charles.
Leaving aside how long it will take to make, Red Dead Redemption is in a tricky spot. With the previous two games contenders for the best game of the decade, there are bound to be high expectations, but narratively it's difficult to see where the game goes next. RDR2 was a prequel, but after both games delivered gut punches by killing off their leads, you feel like going further back as another new protagonist is something we've been there and done before. A prequel where we play as young Arthur, young John, or even swapping between both at various story points could work – their past together shapes their relationship in RDR2 after all. But then you're asking Roger Clark and Rob Wiethoff to go back to Arthur and John, with the actors ten years older and the characters at least ten years younger. That doesn't seem like a solution, especially since Clark and Wiethoff provide performance capture rather than just voice, meaning they'd not only need to sound youthful, but move youthfully too.
Even if we're generous and say filming begins in two years time – an incredibly generous estimate – you're asking stars who will be 45 and 47 respectively to play 20-year-old kids. This isn't Grease. With Rockstar's attention to detail, I can't imagine that looming gap between the actors and the characters will go down very well, and with the original cast's popularity, recasting feels out of the question.
Therefore, if we're going to be looking forwards rather than backwards, it can't be Arthur or John due to the notable handicap of them being rather dead. Sadie Adler might be an obvious pick, ponying up with John in the final mission of RDR2, developing the most through RDR2, and unscathed by the events of RDR. While she's not dead, she is a woman, and that means she's as good as dead as far as triple-A games go. I know we've had more female leads recently, but they still appear to be considered a risk, and with Red Dead such a humongously profitable series, would the board be prepared to take a risk, even if they're not just playing with house money, but own the whole house? Unfortunately, it seems doubtful.
This is where Charles comes in. Like Sadie, he's untouched by the events of RDR and offers one of the most fascinating portraits in RDR2. Half Black, half Native American, Charles is an outsider everywhere he goes. Charles is quiet and reserved, but his still waters run deep. The game's most thoughtful character, he offers a similarly rounded character to the doubtful and remorseful Arthur of RDR2's second half. We see Charles' story in bursts, and always as an observer looking in, often only appearing at the most violent moments to gamify his journey. Ironically, playing as him would make it less of a game as we'd get to live in Charles' shoes even during the slower, more serene moments between the bloodshed.
Charles and Sadie together isn't out of the question either – in fact, if we're ever going to play as Sadie, a split protagonist system seems like the most likely option. In Assassin's Creed Valhalla, female Eivor is the canon option (as confirmed by the follow-up comics), but the majority of the marketing revolved around the male option. Most of the cutscene mocap was performed by Magnus Bruun rather than his female counterpart Cecilie Stenspil as well. If you want to play as Sadie, my bet would be that you'll need to do it in unison with Charles.
Red Dead Redemption 3 does not have a clear path to follow, but then if you'd said before it came out that RDR2 would be a prequel with an entirely new character who constantly bickered with John Marston and then died in tragic circumstances, I'd suggest Rockstar were missing the point of what made RDR so great and were running out of ideas. Whatever it looks like, RDR3 is my most anticipated game on the distant horizon, but right now I can't think of a better game than one revolving around Charles Smith. Except maybe one revolving around Sadie Adler.
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