GTA 6: Series voice actor wants to bring back his oddball cult character
Actor Fred Melamed wants to reprise his religious cult leader role in GTA 6.
There are many questions when it comes to Grand Theft Auto VI. When is it coming out? Where is it set? Does it exist at all? Now we can add another question to that pile: What returning characters may show up for the sequel?
While we don’t know the answer to that just yet, we do know one voice actor who’s hoping to return for the sequel. Inverse recently spoke with actor Fred Melamed about his role in WandaVision as Vision's boss Fred. And the actor revealed that he's also hoping to reprise his recurring GTA in the upcoming sequel.
Melamed’s voice appears in GTA V and GTA: San Andreas as Cris Formage, a religious cult leader who runs the Epsilon Program throughout the series. The organization plays a central role in GTA 5, as players can infiltrate it to complete a string of missions. When asked about his involvement in the upcoming sequel, Melamed said he’s game to reprise his role.
“I hope so,” Melamed tells Inverse. “When you work for Rockstar, it's like making a big-budget feature film. It's almost like working for Marvel. They have a massive studio in New York. And you sign NDAs, they go on for like, oh, like a Bible, they're huge. And they swear you to secrecy.”
Melamed confirmed that while he hopes to return, he’s not currently working on the project. “As to whether or not Cris Fromage will make another appearance, I don't know, but I'm certainly game,” he says.
There are two specific things you can infer from Melamed’s comments. That could mean that GTA 6 isn’t far enough along in development to have reached a casting stage, putting a pin in any hopes that fans will see it this year. Of course, on the flip side, that could also mean that the Epsilon Program doesn’t play a role in the new game. Considering that GTA’s setting changes from game to game, it’s unlikely that we'd return to Los Santos in a sequel, leaving Cris Fromage behind.
As for the man behind the voice, Melamed said he’s been gaming more than usual during the pandemic. The actor says he’s mostly been playing with one of his sons.
“You know, when his friends find out that I've been in some of the frothier titles, some of the Rockstar stuff,” says Melamed, “they’re not impressed that I was shortlisted for an Oscar, but they find out I was in Grand Theft Auto and it's a big deal.”
Grand Theft Auto isn’t the only gaming franchise that Melamed is interested in. He and his son have been playing through a wide range of games, from Rockstar staples to lesser-known RPGs.
“I thought Red Dead 2 was great,” says Melamed. “There's another one that came out kind of at the same time, called Kingdom Come, which is a great game. It was a little bit obscured because the Rockstar titles are so gigantic. We've recently got into some of the Telltale titles. Telltale is an interesting company that does things that are kind of comic book design-based, but they're heavier.”
Even if Cris Fromage doesn’t reappear in GTA 6, it sounds like Melamed will enjoy the next Grand Theft Auto game either way. Let’s just hope he gets the call so he can retain his “cool dad” status even longer.
Grand Theft Auto VI is reportedly in development.
