Those of you keeping up with pop culture have likely heard of the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe craze, WandaVision. If you've been watching it, you may have noticed a familiar face, too — Fred Melamed, who plays Vision's aptly named boss Fred — also played a character in Grand Theft Auto 5; a character he hopes to play again in future GTA games.
While the parodical Epsilon Program cult was mentioned a few times in 2008's GTA 4, it only started playing a prominent role in GTA 5. The Epsilon Program, designed as a satirical analogue for the Church of Scientology and other silly cults and conspiracy theorist fringe groups, operates a Los Santos office near the house of Michael de Santa, one of the three protagonists.
During the course of the game, Michael has the chance to join the Epsilon Program and complete a series of whimsical "truth seeking" side missions, much to the chagrin of accomplices Trevor and Franklin, both of whom consider the cult to be utter nonsense.
Throughout the game, we often meet with the Epsilon Program's unhinged leader — Cris Formage, played by non other than Fred Melamed. The Epsilon Program's touch can be felt in GTA Online too. The first time a player dies, they witness an ethereal visitation from Cris, who explains how Passive Mode works and revives us, thus implying that in the GTA canon, the Epsilon cult is actually right. Terrifying. There are additional Epsilon related easter eggs in the multiplayer mode, such as an unlockable outfit.
In a recent interview with InverseGaming, Melamed stated that he would like to reprise the role of Cris Formage in any upcoming GTA project, but confirmed that he is not currently doing so.
As to whether or not Cris Fromage will make another appearance, I don't know, but I'm certainly game.
The fact that we know Melamed is not currently involved with GTA 6 can lead us to make certain educated guesses about the state of the game. On one hand, we can assume that this is because the development isn't far along enough for Rockstar Games to be casting voice and motion capture talent yet. This wouldn't bode well for any hopes of the game releasing soon.
On the other hand, considering the predominantly accepted leaked information pegs the 70's and 80's as the timeframe and Vice City as the location, it's possible that Cris Formage and the Epsilon Program simply do not appear. In either case, we'll have to wait and see.
