More than 15 years after L.A. Noire first took players onto the streets of 1940s Los Angeles, a resurfaced rumour is raising hopes that Rockstar Games could eventually return to the detective series.
The claim originates from an anonymous leak posted in 2023, which has recently attracted new attention due to some of its Grand Theft Auto 6-related claims appearing to line up with information revealed later. According to the leak, a new L.A. Noire game is supposedly planned as a major Rockstar project following GTA 6, although none of this has been confirmed by Rockstar.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the rumour is the setting. Rather than returning to Los Angeles, the alleged sequel would reportedly move north to San Francisco and revolve around the hunt for the Zodiac Killer. The real-life unidentified serial killer operated in Northern California during the late 1960s, potentially giving a sequel a much darker setting and moving the series forward by around two decades.
The leak also claims Rockstar could significantly expand upon the facial technology that helped make the original L.A. Noire so distinctive. Released in 2011, the game placed a huge emphasis on reading characters’ facial expressions during interrogations, allowing players to decide whether suspects were telling the truth or hiding something. A modern version of that concept could potentially take advantage of the enormous improvements in facial animation and performance capture made since the original game’s release.
There are also genuine reasons to believe Rockstar hasn’t completely forgotten about L.A. Noire. In 2025, Rockstar acquired Video Games Deluxe and renamed the studio Rockstar Australia. The developer was founded by Brendan McNamara, who previously served as writer and director of the original L.A. Noire, while the studio itself has previously worked on L.A. Noire projects.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick also gave fans a small amount of hope in 2026 when asked whether the company had considered doing more with L.A. Noire. Zelnick initially answered “yes,” before clarifying that Take-Two regularly considers opportunities across its catalogue of intellectual properties and that there was nothing specific to announce.
The resurfaced leak reportedly points towards a release around 2030, meaning that even if the information is genuine, an announcement could still be years away. Rockstar has not announced L.A. Noire 2, nor has it confirmed the rumoured San Francisco setting, Zodiac Killer storyline or proposed release window.
For now, the claims should therefore be treated strictly as a rumour. However, with the original game’s director now heading a Rockstar-owned studio and Take-Two acknowledging that it has considered the future of L.A. Noire, the possibility of another detective story isn’t quite as far-fetched as it once seemed.