Red Dead Online cameos: Which characters are making a comeback in Red Dead Online?

There are plenty of Red Dead Online cameos amongst the numerous NPCs you'll encounter on your travels, and seeing these familiar faces mixes things up and keeps these side quests interesting. It's not 100% clear exactly what time period Red Dead Online takes place in, however we can be fairly confident that there is a broad overlap with the main campaign experienced in Red Dead Redemption 2, so it does make sense to have some crossover between that and the online world. Although you're playing as your own avatar instead of Arthur Morgan, there are still plenty of characters who should look familiar to those who've played their way through the Red Dead series.

Generally these Red Dead Online cameos will appear at random, and they're more often than not quest-givers for Stranger Missions which appear on the map with a symbol that looks like a person waving. In this guide, we’ve gathered together a list of the best ones we currently know about, but we’re sure there are still many more waiting in the wilderness.

Bonnie MacFarlane

Quite possibly the most profound cameo in Red Dead Online is that of Bonnie MacFarlane, the rancher that teaches John Marston everything he needs to know in the original Red Dead Redemption. Travel to... well… Macfarlane’s Ranch and if you’re lucky her Stranger Mission icon will be there, ready to offer you work. Most missions involve you finding her lost wagon, though Bonnie’s ranch hand Amos will also appear in certain missions depending on the content.

Clay and Clive Davies

Clay and his quiet brother Clive are the Clemens Cove rustlers, horse thieves who open up a seriously profitable racketeering avenue for the Van Der Linde Gang during the events of Red Dead Redemption 2. They can also be found in Red Dead Online, sometimes as the starting mission of the game in the tutorial, where you’re tasked with wrangling a set of prize horses.

Alden Carruthers

Alden is the Rhodes train station clerk and during the events of the campaign, joins the ‘Discouraged Men’ faction set up by the eerie Josiah Trelawny. He offers out tips on incoming stagecoaches available to rob, and the same can be said for his appearance in Red Dead Online.

Sean Maguire

Everybody’s favourite Irish cowboy can also be found in Red Dead Online. The mischievous, witty, and endlessly endearing member of the Van Der Linde Gang is hiding in a cabin in the woods and offers up a few laughs as well as a number of random assassination missions.

James Langton

You may have forgotten about James Langton, but he appears right at the end of Red Dead Redemption 2. Langton acts as Sadie Adler’s rival, a bounty hunter out for a score that she wants to settle. In Red Dead Online, you can find Langton in a number of places but most of them surround New Austin.

Flaco Hernandez

Flaco is one of the legendary gunslingers Arthur has to track down as part of the campaign side mission ‘The Noblest of Men, and a Woman’. In Red Dead Online, you can find him operating out of a cabin in the Grizzlies, specifically near Cairn Lake. This is identical to the spot you find him in during the story, and he’ll offer you work, but not before wondering how on earth you found him.

Hamish Sinclair

Hamish is a US Army veteran who lost his leg during battle. He lives in a cabin near O’Creagh’s Run in the campaign, where Arthur can find him and take him out on hunting missions that develop his character. In Red Dead Online, he can be found in a variety of places but often at his home, and offers up missions that include but are not limited to stagecoach robbery, a far cry from his humble existence in the story.

Joe

Micah’s right-hand man and Javier Bardem doppelganger Joe appears very briefly during Red Dead Redemption 2’s campaign, mostly near the bitter end. However, you can enjoy some more of his company in Red Dead Online. He operates out of a Lemoyne cabin and offers low-honour missions to anyone who can stand being around him.

Strange Man / Josiah Trelawny

Josiah is by far the most peculiar member of the Van Der Linde Gang, with all the signs pointing to him being the Strange Man from the original Red Dead Redemption, some kind of time-travelling miscreant with demonic power. You can find Josiah and some good honest work in a trailer park just outside of Rhodes in Red Dead Online, right where the Fence would be in the campaign.

Looking for more help? Then check out our essential Red Dead Redemption 2 tips in the video below: