GTA 5's Steve Haines Actor Tried 60 Times to Land a GTA 6 Role — Rockstar Never Called Back

Robert Bogue, the voice actor behind corrupt FIB agent Steve Haines in Grand Theft Auto 5, has publicly revealed that he submitted auditions for more than 60 roles in GTA 6 and never heard back from Rockstar Games on any of them. The disclosure came through a direct message exchange on Instagram, shared publicly by X user Burak, in which Bogue spoke candidly about his frustration and disappointment. He described feeling like someone who had been romantically rejected after putting everything into a relationship — a notably raw analogy for what is, on paper, a professional casting situation. Bogue made clear he was willing to take anything, big or small, just to be part of the project.

Bogue's history with Rockstar runs deep. He voiced Red Harlow in Red Dead Revolver, Troy in Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony, and Steve Haines across multiple GTA 5 storyline missions. That track record is part of why being shut out so thoroughly stings — he wasn't a cold auditioner, but a known quantity with an established working relationship with the studio. His theory is that Rockstar may now avoid reusing actors to prevent players from making character connections across titles, though he acknowledged this was speculation rather than anything he'd been told directly.

After his initial comments circulated online, Bogue offered a brief follow-up, acknowledging that going public about the number of auditions was a candid move. He framed it plainly: the actor's life is fundamentally about rejection, but the absence of any formal response — across 60 attempts — crossed a line that felt different from standard industry rejection. It wasn't bitterness about not being cast so much as being entirely ghosted by a studio he had loyally returned to across multiple franchises over many years.

Bogue's situation isn't without precedent in Rockstar's history with talent. Michael Hollick, who played Niko Bellic in GTA 4, publicly complained about being paid $100,000 for 15 months of work on one of gaming's biggest commercial hits and receiving no share of subsequent revenue. That dispute is widely believed to be the reason Niko was absent from GTA 5 cameos, while other Liberty City characters like Packie McReary did appear. Ray Liotta similarly commented that pay for his work on Vice City was well below his film rate.

More recently, Rockstar's actor relationships appear to have improved. Roger Clark, Ned Luke, and Shawn Fonteno have all spoken positively about working with the studio, and Luke and Fonteno have continued voicing their GTA 5 characters in GTA Online updates. As for Steve Haines specifically, his return was always unlikely — the character is killed in GTA 5's widely accepted canon ending — but the lack of any acknowledgment across such a high volume of auditions is what Bogue says stings most.