Franklin's Fate in Grand Theft Auto Online: What Is Officially Canon?
By Marcus Vance
Grand Theft Auto V offered three distinct conclusions through Franklin's iFruit phone. Ending A ("Something Sensible") saw Franklin execute Trevor on behalf of Steve Haines and the FIB, chasing him into oil tanks before igniting the fuel. Ending B ("The Time's Come") tasked Franklin with hunting down Michael for billionaire Devin Weston, ending in a fatal fall from a Palmer-Taylor power plant platform. Both decisions earned immediate cash payouts but severed Franklin’s ties with his surviving partner.
Rockstar spent years dropping breadcrumbs before finally putting the argument to rest. Option C ("The Third Way," popularly known as Deathwish) demanded that Franklin reject both execution orders. Instead, he teamed up with Michael, Trevor, and Lamar to wipe out Haines, Weston, the Los Santos Triads, and the Ballas in a single coordinated counteroffensive.
In The Contract, Franklin explicitly references events that could only occur if both Michael and Trevor walked away from 2013 unharmed. Driving through the Richards Majestic movie lot during a studio mission, Franklin quips about knowing one of the producers working there, referencing Michael’s second career alongside Solomon Richards. Meanwhile, dialogue across various GTA Online expansions confirms Trevor was seen causing havoc in Los Santos long after the main story wrapped, completely disproving Ending A.
Marcus Vance is a cybersecurity auditor and technology writer dedicated to educating the public about online safety, data privacy regulations, enterprise security, and emerging cyber threats.
