Now that GTA 6 is finally out in 2026, I've been thinking a lot about Lucia. She's a Latina woman, one half of a Bonnie and Clyde-style duo, and the first truly playable female protagonist in a mainline Grand Theft Auto game. If you want to be pedantic, the original 1997 GTA let you pick from four female portraits, but that was just a face in a menu — it didn't change your character in any meaningful way. So yeah, Lucia is a big deal. And I'm glad Rockstar finally did it.
But here's the thing: they already had the perfect female lead, and they let her ride off into the sunset without a second glance. I'm talking about Sadie Adler from Red Dead Redemption 2.
Sadie isn't just a 'strong female character' checkbox. She's a widow, a survivor, a vengeful gunslinger, and one of the most complex people in the Van der Linde gang. We first meet her when the gang rescues her from the O'Driscolls. She goes from a contented housewife to a sharp-shooting outlaw in what feels like a heartbeat, but the game never lets you forget the trauma underneath. She's honorable, reckless, wounded, and fiercely independent. She never quite fits in — not with the women doing camp chores, not with the men drinking and joking. She keeps everyone at arm's length, even Arthur, the one man she says she trusts.
And that's the tragedy, isn't it? ...
Rockstar gave us a character who could have carried her own story DLC, and then they just... didn't. Red Dead Redemption 2 never got any single-player story DLC. Not a Sadie Adler one, not an Undead Nightmare 2, nothing. Instead, Rockstar poured everything into Red Dead Online, then quietly pulled support for that too. GTA Online is the golden goose, and that's where the serious money lives. I get it. I do. But it still stings.
Let's talk about the seven-year gap. Between the main story's ending and the epilogue, Sadie disappears. We know she becomes a bounty hunter. We know she occasionally drags John Marston along for a job. But what happened in between? Did she have friends? Travel companions? Fleeting lovers? Did she ever let her guard down? After she told Arthur he was the only man she trusted, maybe she opened up to someone else — and then something terrible happened, and she sealed herself off for good. That's the story I wanted. That's the story Rockstar never told.
And what about the daily reality of being a woman alone in the American West at the turn of the 20th century? Sadie was tough as nails, sure. But she was also a former housewife who had spent years under the protection of a gang. Being truly alone would have been a different kind of challenge. How did people treat a female gunslinger? How did she handle men who underestimated her? What prejudices did she have to smash to become one of the most respected bounty hunters in the West? We never saw it. We only saw the mask.
That mask is what makes Sadie so fascinating. She suppressed her past, her desires, her vulnerabilities, and became one of Rockstar's most badass characters. She was a woman doing 'man's work' in a world that wanted to put her in a box, and she burned the box down. For my money, she's a stronger female icon than most modern protagonists — not because she's perfect, but because she's broken and she keeps going anyway.
Now, Lucia might be great. I hope she is. GTA 6's Bonnie and Clyde angle sounds fun, and a Latina lead is long overdue. But Red Dead has always had richer character work than GTA. Arthur Morgan, John Marston, and Sadie Adler feel like people. GTA protagonists, even the best ones, often feel like attitudes. So I'll be surprised if Lucia tops Sadie. Not impossible, but... unlikely.
Here's a quick comparison of what we got versus what we could have had:
| Character | Game | Role | What we got | What we missed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sadie Adler | Red Dead Redemption 2 | Widow, outlaw, bounty hunter | A brilliant supporting character | Her own story DLC |
| Lucia | GTA 6 | Latina protagonist, Bonnie-and-Clyde duo | A historic first for GTA | Too early to say |
I'm not gonna lie: every time I replay Red Dead 2, I finish the epilogue and feel that little pang of disappointment. Sadie rides off, and the credits roll, and I'm left wondering what could have been. Rockstar's unsung female hero deserved more than a few mission appearances and a mention in the epilogue. She was the most dangerous woman in the West. She should have had her own game.
Maybe one day Rockstar will go back. Maybe not. But for now, I'll keep Lucia in my prayers — and Sadie Adler in my heart. 🐎💔