In many ways, Borderlands 3 is offering exactly what fans of the series have been demanding- more of what made the first two games so damn good. But there’s also some new stuff that the looter shooter has in store for us, such as its weird, wacky, streamer culture-inspired duo of villains. And they have big shoes to fill, follow as they do from the enigmatic and fan-favourite Handsome Jack.
But given just how beloved Handsome Jack was in the Borderlands community and how much work the series had done over multiple games to build him up, was it ever a consideration at the studio to somehow find a way to bring him back for the threequel? According to game director Paul Sage, that was indeed something the studio thought about at one point.
“Yeah, we did originally consider that,” Sage said while speaking with Critical Hit. “We knew that fans loved Jack and we knew there’d be a big response to seeing him return but at the end of the day, we decided we needed to move on.”
According to Sage, however, bringing back Handsome Jack would have ultimately been a bad move on their part, as it would have, in his own words, everything the players experienced and did in Borderlands 2.
“I think the ending to Borderlands 2 was a pretty definitive end to Jack, at least in the mainline games, and to bring him back for another round kinda felt like it undermined everything the player did in Borderlands 2,” said Sage. “So yeah, Jack’s gone. Don’t expect him to be back.”
We’ll find out soon enough if the Calypso Twins can live up to the high standards set by the series’ past antagonists when Borderlands 3 launches on September 3 for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
