Opinion
What Happens to Johnny When Nobody Calls Him Anymore?
Johnny Klebitz was the protagonist of The Lost and Damned, a 2009 expansion for Grand Theft Auto IV. Since then the series has used him sparingly, and in GTA V in a way that is hard to forget. This is a fan essay about what that silence means.
By GTA VI Radio editors··5 min read
This is fan opinion, not reporting. Game facts come from the sources below; the judgements are ours.
The man who held the club together
Johnny is the vice president of The Lost, a motorcycle club based in Alderney, the game's version of New Jersey. Wikipedia's summary of the story has him caught between his president and his conscience. When Billy Grey comes back from rehab and breaks a truce with a rival club, Johnny has to choose between the man he followed and the club he built. He is the sensible one in a group that is not.
That is what makes him sympathetic. He is not cool, he is not clever, and he keeps showing up. Scott Hill plays him as tired and loyal rather than menacing, and the game builds its tension from the gap between what Johnny wants, which is peace, and what the club keeps demanding.
The cast around him
The Lost and Damned gives Johnny a distinct supporting cast. Billy Grey is played by Lou Sumrall, Jim Fitzgerald by Chris McKinney, Brian Jeremy by Adrian Martinez, and Ashley Butler by Traci Godfrey. Grand Theft Wiki lists Terry Thorpe, the club's arms dealer, as played by Joshua Burrow. Niko Bellic, the lead of GTA IV itself, makes a cameo, played by Michael Hollick, because the stories run side by side.
That structure was a clever piece of design. The Lost and Damned runs at the same time as GTA IV and The Ballad of Gay Tony, in the same city, with the whole map open from the start. You are playing the same Liberty City from the bottom of a different ladder.
How the story ends
Spoilers follow. According to Wikipedia's plot summary, Johnny takes part in a heroin deal that turns out to be a police sting, and returns the drugs to the Triads after learning they belong to them. Billy had secretly arranged for the Triads to kill Johnny and Jim, but they survive, and Billy is arrested. Johnny becomes president, but Brian Jeremy starts a civil war against him, and Johnny eventually kills Brian.
A diamond theft that Johnny carries out for the gangster Ray Boccino goes wrong, and Jim is later killed. When Billy plans to turn state's evidence, Johnny assaults the prison and kills him. The clubhouse is vandalised, and the survivors burn it down. Johnny leaves the gang to support Jim's family. Retellings vary on small details, so check the game if you need them.
This section contains spoilers for The Lost and Damned.
How critics saw it
The expansion was well received. Wikipedia records Metacritic scores of 90 for the Xbox 360 version and 88 for the PS3 version. Critics praised the motorcycle handling, the darker tone, the voice acting, the multiplayer and the amount of new content. They complained about the auto-aim and weak ally AI.
It also added to the radio. Liberty City Hardcore, an extreme metal show hosted by Max Cavalera, was new to the game. Existing stations were updated: Liberty Rock Radio kept Iggy Pop as DJ, with new tracks, Radio Broker was hosted by Juliette Lewis with new indie tracks, and the talk station WKTT added The Martin Serious Show, voiced by Will Forte.
A character who only works with other people
Johnny's story is about belonging. His whole identity is being part of something. By the end of the expansion the club he served is gone, and the series has not given him another one. In that sense the real question is not a plot question. It is what a man whose job is to be needed does when no one needs him.
What the later games did with him
Johnny reappears in The Ballad of Gay Tony, the second GTA IV expansion. Grand Theft Wiki lists him in three of its missions, "I Luv LC", "Frosting on the Cake" and "Not So Fast". That is a supporting role, and he is no longer the one making the decisions.
In GTA V, according to the same wiki, he appears in two missions, and in both he is dead. It says Trevor kills him in the mission "Mr. Philips", and that he appears in a coffin in "Friends Reunited". It says Trevor also kills Terry Thorpe and other Lost members at their camp in Blaine County. Johnny is mentioned in GTA Online but not seen. That is a single source, so treat it as reported and check the missions yourself. If it is right, it is a brutal answer to this essay's question: when nobody calls Johnny any more, it is because the series has moved on without him.
Why fans keep asking
Fans keep bringing him up because he is the series' rare ordinary man. No heists, no empire, no big scheme. He wanted a club to belong to. That is easy to relate to, and easy to forget. His fate in GTA V, if the wiki is right, reads to many fans as a casual dismissal of a character who was once a lead.
We have no inside knowledge of Rockstar's plans, and we do not claim any. GTA VI follows two different leads in a different place, and we do not expect Johnny to be in it. This is an appreciation, not a leak.
Quick answers
- Who is Johnny Klebitz?
- The protagonist of The Lost and Damned, a 2009 expansion for Grand Theft Auto IV, and the vice president of the Lost motorcycle club.
- Who voices Johnny Klebitz?
- Scott Hill.
- What happens to Johnny in GTA 5?
- According to Grand Theft Wiki, he appears only as a dead character, killed by Trevor in the mission Mr. Philips. This is a single-source claim, so check the mission.
- Will Johnny Klebitz be in GTA 6?
- Rockstar has not announced it. This post is a fan essay, not a report.
Sources
GTA VI Radio is an unofficial fan site and is not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive. Game titles and characters belong to their owners.
