Elaine and Guybrush
Image: Lucasfilm Games

With Return To Monkey Island just around the corner, Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman have been giving tons of interviews to the press to promote the latest title in the series. And, as part of a recent interview with Eurogamer, Gilbert revealed something quite interesting.

According to the Monkey Island creator, the duo has considered making a game in which Guybrush's capable love interest Elaine Marley takes the lead.

He revealed to Eurogamer:

"[Something] I've always kind of wanted to explore was a Monkey Island game helmed by Elaine, where Guybrush is the sidekick in it all. It's something that interests me quite a bit... [but] I don't know how to make that game."

As Dave Grossman points out, though, this would require a total rethink of how they approach the series:

"It's tricky, because it's difficult to imagine Elaine solving problems in the same way that Guybrush does. She's got to kind of have her own 'mode', [and] we have to figure out what that is before we can make that game."

Interestingly, this is not the first time we've heard about the potential of a woman lead for a Monkey Island game. Speaking to former Lucasfilm Games background artist Mark Ferrari back in 2020, he told us about the existence of a Galbrush early in The Secret of Monkey Island's development who was removed due to there not being enough disk space for two sets of character animations.

It's something we tried to verify with Gilbert himself, who told us:

"I talked to Mark about Monkey Island way way way before I talked to anyone else, it might have been an idea that was floated, but I don't remember it, so it must not have taken any root."

Honestly, we'd be open to Elaine taking the lead in a new adventure, but given how beloved Guybrush is, it might be an idea to have her star in a short, similar to Terrible Toybox's Delores: A Thimbleweed Park Mini-Adventure, to test the waters first. Or go the Maniac Mansion route of having multiple protagonists.

What do you think? Would you be curious about an Elaine-fronted Monkey Island adventure? Let us know!

[source eurogamer.net]