Fans are already sketching out what Red Dead Redemption 3 should be, and many of them want the story to move backward. The most talked-about idea is a prequel that follows the early days of Arthur Morgan, Dutch Van Der Linde and Hosea before the gang fully came together.
The reason the debate is getting fresh attention now is simple: Red Dead Redemption 2 remains the third-highest selling video game of all time, so any talk of a follow-up lands with real weight. That success is part of why fans keep circling back to the same question — whether Rockstar Games should revisit the Van Der Linde era or use the next game to start over somewhere else.
One Redditor pushed the prequel idea furthest, saying: “Yes. I’d like it to be an origin story for the entire gang.” Another expanded the pitch into a touring introduction to the cast: “We play missions that introduce us to everyone throughout various locations.” A third wanted the scale pushed even harder, calling for “A whole new map! THREE TIMES the size of RDR2!!!” For fans who want more Arthur, the appeal is obvious. They want to see him first as an orphaned street rat and then as the fearsome gunslinger he becomes.
But the argument does not stop there. Some fans think Dutch’s gang already told the story it needed to tell, and they do not want another installment to mine the same territory. One Redditor put that view bluntly: “Simply NO. Dutch’s gang already told the story it needed to tell.” Others want Red Dead Redemption 3 to leave the old crew behind entirely, with a different protagonist, a different gang and new characters far removed from Dutch and his crew. A few even want the series to jump to a complete new era such as the Klondike Gold Rush, while others would rather continue Sadie Adler in Mexico.
That split matters because it shows how hard it will be for Rockstar Games to please the fan base with one choice. The Blackwater ferry heist is part of that same divide: some fans want it shown, while others think it works better as a story that stays in the dark and gains power by never being put on screen. With Grand Theft Auto 6 still ahead, Red Dead Redemption 3 may be years away, but the next move for the franchise is already being argued over in public. When Rockstar Games does turn back to it, the company will have to decide whether the future belongs to Arthur Morgan and the Van Der Linde gang — or to a clean break from them.
