If it hadn’t leaked months beforehand followed-up with several leaks just before,Far Cry 6’s reveal at Ubisoft Forward would have been something else. SeeingBreaking Bad star Giancarlo Espositohanding his son a grenade, talking about the country of Yara, and more would have been a strong, shocking introduction to the game world. It still checked all the boxes, but fans have also scribbled more in.
With the game’s leaks came rumors, and perhaps the biggest and most prominent right now is thatFar Cry 6is a prequel toFar Cry 3. The premise alone isn’t completely out there, as Joseph Seed appears in bothFar Cry 5andFar Cry: New Dawn, and visually, it can be argued strongly. After all, no villain has quite ever lived up to Vaas Montenegro and bringing him back would guarantee sales, but it would also cause one problem if handled in this way.
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Diego and Vaas Share Some Similarities (And Fans Are Loving It)….
First, it’s worth looking at why some think Diego is a young Vaas. The first piece of evidence is that bothVaas and Diego feature a slight scaron their eyebrow, a small detail that Diego could have easily gone without. This, combined with Vaas voice actor Michael Mando teasing a reprised role of Vaas and Esposito’s involvement (and his relationship with Mando in general), has led many to draw connections. It’s easy to connect these dots, after all, and many would love to see Vaas return. However, Diego being Vaas means disconnecting the character from a lot of lore established inFar Cry 3.
Before diving into that, the actors alone are having some fan stoking the flames of these rumors, withMando commenting on the Diego-Vaas rumorwith a mind-blown emoji. Many have taken this as some sort of pseudo-confirmation, especially after Mando teased reprising the role, but here’s the thing: assuming this is true for a moment, Mando is not actually confirmed as a voice actor for the game yet, nor is he Diego for obvious reasons.
Diego is played by Anthony Gonzalez, and the game seems focused on his relationship withantagonist Anton. Ergo, for Vaas to somehow return as Mando teased, this would be a significant time skip inFar Cry 6that doesn’t make a lot of sense. It would seemingly undermine the relationship established thus far and player agency in the game.
In ourFar Cry 6interview, we asked if players would influence Anton and Diego’s relationship, trying to discover if there was more than one way for Diego to end up, and it could not be answered yet. As such, that’s no means a confirmation, but it seems playersmaybe able to influence Diego. Turning him into a “good guy” and against his dictator father wouldn’t work if it’s a prequel at all.
But It Would Require a Few Major Far Cry 3 Retcons
Turning eyes away from Diego, which is mostly speculation, to Vaas provides more concrete evidence against these rumors. There’s the inherent problem of getting a young Vaas wrong or showing too much of the character, thereby eliminating the allure. As another example, Yoda is a popularStar Warscharacter but diving too much into his character is something George Lucas always blocked, as it would explain too much. The Child (orBaby Yoda) and the other members of his race that have appeared inStar Warslore have always been adjacent, but never directly connected nor too revealing. Showing too much of Vaas could do the very same, taking away from his mysterious insanity that so many players enjoy.
Nonetheless, there are legitimate issues as well. Vaas was born in 1985 in the Rook Islands. This sets up the first stretch: for Diego (who is 13) to be Vaas, this would meanFar Cry 6takes place in roughly 1998.Far Cry 3take place in 2012 (its year of release), and Vaas meets Volker sometime before then. Building from that would suggest, if Diego were Vaas, that Diego escaped, went to the Rook Islands, joined the Rakyat, left the Rakyat, and all of that in 14 years? It’s not impossible—it does sound improbable,though—and that’s ignoring the fact that Vaas was specifically born in the Rook Islands.
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Yara,Far Cy 6’s location, is an island based on Cuba. It’s described as a location “frozen in time” and meant to give off a sort-of 80s vibe. However, it’s likely much more modern than that, not to mention that placing it in the 80s wouldn’t work for Vaas again. Time shenanigans aside, it would also mean that a dictator’s son somehow escaped to the Rook Islands, alluding any government agency that would be looking for him, and somehow relegated joined the Rakyat. And that also ignores his sister, Citra. It’s never established as a blood relationship, but it’s not impossible either.
It is implied that she is the older sister, who was incredibly demanding of Vaas at a young age. “Young age” has some interpretations, but at the same time, Diego being 13 means that he would know she’s not his actual sister. This is further complicated by the fact that Vaas’s first kill was for Citra, but it seems Anton is pushing Diego to kill. It would be a strange thing to try to line up, and what that would mean is simple: For Diego to be Vaas, there would need to be unnecessary retcons that mess with the established character.
So What About Vaas?
Obviously, the question now is: how, when, and if we could see Vaas again? AssumingMando’s comment on reprising the roleisn’t a joke and isn’t just his volunteering if it could happen, there’s a few things to consider. Vaas’s body is not in the game and the building where players kill him cannot be explored; it is possible he is alive, somehow. With that in mind, every numbered entry is often followed by a spin-off.
Far Cry 3was followed byBlood Dragon(a strange retro-futuristic action movie standalone),Far Cry 4was followed byPrimal (a prehistoric romp), andFar Cry 5was followed byNew Dawn(a post-apocalyptic adventure).Far Cry 6will indubitably be followed by one as well, and if so, it’s likely already in the works. In a spin-off, Vaas' return could easily be justified and not have a big bearing on his story or character. But that’s if Ubisoft would want to bring him back, which would guarantee sales, but potentially mess with how players view the iconic character.
Far Cry 6releases June 24, 2025, for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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