A character model datamined from Grand Theft Auto 5's source code 'could actually be Agent's protagonist', according to online sleuth
Rockstar Games' cancelled open world game Agent is one of the more mysterious elements of the Grand Theft Auto 6 developer's history. Originally revealed back in 2007, Agent was a relatively high-profile project for years, but never showed much beyond the odd bit of concept art, eventually vanishing from Rockstar's website in 2021.
More information about Agent has appeared in recent years, however. Dan Houser recently explained the game went through "about five different iterations" and that it never came together because open world games and tightly crafted spy thrillers don't mix. Now, a data miner believes they've uncovered a little more information on Agent via Grand Theft Auto 5's source code, specifically the identity of its main character.
As spotted by Rockstar reporter BenTech on X (via Kotaku) the story actually starts in May 2025, when a member of GTAForums named Krierra posted a series of character models they'd unearthed from Grand Theft Auto 5's source code, which leaked back in 2023. Krierra claimed that these were all characters from Agent. Yet apart from some sporadic debate about this point from other posters, nobody seems to have taken much notice.
Until last week, that is, when another user going by XanaBax did some proper digging into the identities of the characters. XanaBax immediately dismissed three of the four characters as being from Agent, pointing out that two are Grand Theft Auto 5 NPCs, while another originates in Grand Theft Auto 4's expansion The Ballad of Gay Tony. But XanaBax says the remaining model "could actually be Agent's protagonist."
XanaBax's reasoning is based upon the fact that the main node in the folder hierarchy in which the model was found is called "player", alongside the fact that the folder itself is called 'Jimmy', the codename of Agent. In addition to this, the model is seen in some images from the portfolio of a former Rockstar environment artist who worked on Agent.
Digging a little deeper, Xanabax also discovered the XMD filename for the character model includes the phrase "NorthRig", implying that it was developed at Rockstar North, and is dated to June 2009, which puts it in the window between GTA 4 and Grand Theft Auto 5 when Agent was in active development. The model itself is also partly based upon the model for Grand Theft Auto 4's protagonist Niko Bellic, using "more or less" the same UV map for Niko's head, according to XanaBax.
Agent isn't the only unrealised Rockstar project we've discovered more about lately. Last September, Dan Houser also revealed that the studio's planned sequel to Bully didn't happen due to "bandwidth issues" within management, telling IGN that "if you've got a small lead creative team and a small senior leadership crew, you just can't do all the projects you want."
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