GTA 5's Three Endings: Which One Should You Pick?

GTA 5 ends the same way for almost every player: Franklin, gun in hand, forced to choose who lives. The choice happens fast, the game barely explains the stakes, and undoing it later means starting a whole new save. Here is exactly what each of the three endings does, what you lose if you pick wrong, and which one Rockstar treats as canon.

The Three Endings At a Glance

• Ending A - "Kill Trevor" (Assassination): Franklin executes Trevor for the FIB. Michael survives, Trevor does not.
• Ending B - "Kill Michael" (Betrayal): Franklin executes Michael for Devin Weston. Trevor survives, Michael does not.
• Ending C - "Deathwish" (The Third Way): Franklin, Michael and Trevor turn on their enemies instead of each other. All three survive.
• Canon ending: Deathwish. Rockstar has confirmed it in later material referencing the trio.
• 100% completion: Only possible with Deathwish, since killing either character permanently removes their missions, properties and vehicles.

Major story spoilers follow for the end of GTA 5's main campaign.

How You Get Here

The choice is presented at the very end of the story, right after the Bureau Raid heist and Devin Weston's final betrayal. Steve Haines wants Trevor dead because he is an FIB liability. Weston wants Michael dead because he blames him for a dead lawyer and a stalled business deal. Franklin gets a phone call from each man in turn, then a third option unlocks once both calls have happened: fight everyone at once. The game marks the choice as "Option A / Option B / Option C" and lets you swap between them freely on the pause menu before locking in, so nothing commits until the mission actually starts.

Ending A: Kill Trevor (Assassination)

Choosing this option sends Franklin after Trevor, ending in a rooftop and vehicle chase that finishes with Trevor's death, either in an explosion or a straightforward execution depending on how the mission plays out. Michael keeps his money and his family, but the friendship that defined the whole game is gone. Franklin and Michael's remaining scenes together feel muted; Trevor's businesses, his Blaine County trailer, and every one of his solo missions vanish from the save permanently.

This ending is the bleakest of the three narratively. It rewards loyalty to Michael specifically, but most players who pick it do so out of curiosity rather than genuine preference, since Trevor's arc gets no closure and the story simply moves past him.

Ending B: Kill Michael (Betrayal)

This route has Franklin gun down Michael on Weston's orders. Michael's share of the heist money passes to his family, Trevor becomes convinced Franklin was forced into it, and the two of them remain playable together. It is the most tragic of the three endings: Michael spends the whole game trying to protect his family and finally start over, and this ending erases that arc entirely. As with Ending A, everything tied to the character you killed, missions, safehouse, garage vehicles, is gone for good.

Neither A nor B unlocks any extra content. They exist as narrative "what if" branches, and Rockstar built them to feel like a loss no matter which friend you pick.

Ending C: Deathwish (The Third Way) - The Canon Ending

Deathwish plays out as a single long mission called The Third Way. Instead of turning on each other, Franklin, Michael, Trevor and Lamar lure the FIB strike team and Merryweather mercenaries into a trap at the Vespucci foundry under cover of melting down the Union Depository gold. After the shootout, the three protagonists each take out one of the men who spent the game trying to destroy them: Trevor kills FIB agent Steve Haines, Michael kills the corrupt agent Stretch, and Franklin kills triad enforcer Wei Cheng. Trevor then leads a final assault on Devin Weston's mansion, tearing through his security detail while Weston himself flees. All three protagonists walk away alive, and every character-specific mission, property and vehicle stays available afterward.

Deathwish Gold Medal Requirements

If you want the gold medal on The Third Way, plan for:

• 20 headshot kills across the mission
• A melee takedown to finish Stretch
• A headshot to finish Steve Haines
• Sticky bombs to finish Wei Cheng
• 70% or higher overall accuracy
• A total mission time under 21 minutes 30 seconds

Why Deathwish Is the Ending Most Players Choose

Two reasons dominate. First, story-wise, it is the only ending where the trio actually earns something instead of just losing a friend. Second, mechanically, it is the only ending compatible with 100% completion. Kill Trevor or Michael and their character-locked content, side missions, safehouses, garages, specific businesses, disappears from your save file with no way to get it back short of loading an earlier save or starting over. If you are chasing the platinum trophy or the 100% stat on your file, check our GTA 5 100% completion checklist before you touch this mission, since a handful of side content is easy to miss even with all three characters alive.

Which Ending Should You Pick?

If you only ever play through GTA 5 once, Deathwish is the safe, canon, complete choice, and it is also simply the better-written ending. Endings A and B exist for players who want to see the alternate outcomes, and both are worth watching at least once on a separate save or via a video, since they change how the epilogue plays and affect which special ability roster you are left with for any remaining free-roam content. Before you commit, it is worth finishing loose ends tied to the character you might lose: wrap up their outstanding Strangers and Freaks missions, and if you want a full sweep of the map first, our guide to North Yankton in story mode is only reachable earlier in the campaign, so do not save it for after the finale.

Save before you choose. Whichever letter you pick, GTA 5 does not let you undo it once The Third Way, The Time's Come, or Something Sensible actually starts, so keep a separate manual save at this point if you want to see more than one outcome without replaying the entire story. And if the final shootouts feel harder than expected, remember Story Mode still supports the full set of GTA 5 cheat codes for a bit of breathing room, they just will not affect which ending you are locked into.