FBI Files: If this one isn’t actually the leader, he’s definitely the trusted lieutenant. Dallas is one of the original four that emerged in 2011. He appears to be the Mastermind of the gang, and his calm demeanor under fire suggests both great experience and cunning intelligence.
Security footage notes his hair is greying, possibly indicating he is one of the oldest members of the gang.
His smiling clown mask with the American pattern has become the face for the Payday gang.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I NEED A MEDIC BAG!!!!"
—Dallas's most iconic quote
Nathan Steele, better known as Dallas, is a 54-year-old chain-smoking American Mastermind. He wears a mask with the American flag during heists and is voiced by Simon Kerr. Dallas is 54 years old during the events of PAYDAY 3.
Dallas worked for a Chicago mob when he was young. He later climbed the ladder and went from club bouncer to hitman. He has a brilliant mind disguised behind the face of a common thug. When he was thirty, he tried to turn two Chicago mobs against each other, resulting in the deaths of policemen and mobsters. A hit was placed on Dallas by the mob leaders, but he managed to survive.
While he was in hiding, he ran an underground gun range. He also performed hits against drug dealers, wishing to harm the American drug trade. After ten years in hiding, he had what Bain calls a criminal's version of a "what am I doing with my life?" kind of crisis. He then decided to steal a shipment of weapons and try to find a criminal crew.
Dallas appears to also have an official occupation while not being a criminal, where he uses the name "Nathan Steele". In PAYDAY: The Web Series, he was the bank manager of the First World Bank, which allowed the crew to rob with his inside help. In the PAYDAY 2: The Dentist Trailer, he claims to be in "financial transfers". Whether or not this is a euphemism for his career as a bank robber or he is a real, professional financial consultant remains to be seen. Since he managed to attain the position of manager in a major bank, which would require him to know a lot about financing, Dallas may be a legitimate consultant.
By the time of PAYDAY 2, Dallas was revealed to have a younger brother, who briefly took up the mantle of Hoxton when Hoxton was arrested by the police.
Offshore Payday
After Bain's alleged death and the success of the White House heist, Dallas and the rest of the Payday Gang celebrate their successes and impending retirement on a beach. After giving The Butcher a case of money, having a short talk with Vlad, and briefly laughing at Vernon Locke having his golf game ruined and later getting hit by The Butcher over the Alaskan heist fiasco, Dallas retires with a yacht named Medic Bag and occasionally throws parties on it with former members.
Right before the start of PAYDAY 3, an assassination attempt by an unknown assailant forces Dallas, Chains, Wolf, Hoxton, and Joy out of retirement. The assassins also successfully rob the former Payday Gang members of their ill-gotten gains from the events of PAYDAY 2, but with the help of Bain's former protege, Shade, whom Dallas was acquainted with some time before the start of the game's events, leading to Dallas and the rest of the surviving gang members bouncing back into their former criminal behaviors.
After which, Dallas can be seen present or involved in nearly every single of the one crew's espadas.
Original Heisters In the First World Bank job, complete the heist from start on the OVERKILL difficulty or above with a full player lobby using all 4 characters from the PAYDAY: The Heist crew, Reinfeld Shotguns and Bernetti 9 Pistols.
Trivia
General
Dallas is the most iconic character in the whole PAYDAY series, appearing as the main character in almost every media. He is described officially as "the face that everyone fears", referencing his position as the Mastermind/leader of the Payday Gang.
He is most often considered to be the leader, or head, of the crew in promotional media as well as his personal Crew Chief Perk Deck, despite not making any tangible impact on gameplay with his presence/absence. Hector also notes that Dallas is the leader of the Payday Gang in one of the voice tapes in the Hoxton Revenge heist.
In Slaughterhouse of PAYDAY: The Heist, Bain gave Dallas the honor to signal the ambush on the Murkywater convoy. However, this is not seen again in the remake, surely because of the increased number of heisters in the second game.
He is modeled after Karl Lakner, the art director at Overkill Software. In PAYDAY 2, the actor who portrays him in PAYDAY: The Web Series, Eric Etebari, provides his likeness for the character in-game.
He shares his name with a large city in the state of Texas, USA.
During development, the following nicknames were scrapped: Cowboy, Touchdown, and Chief.[1]
Dallas was intended to be a Russian during the earlier stages of development, as assets related to him are indexed as such in the game files.
He is depicted as the "Assault" in the "Upgrades" menu.
The Clown, Beeef, and Alienware masks for Dallas have red and white stripes with stars imprinted on a blue layer, which represents the United States flag. The "Secret" mask for Dallas has a similar red, white, and blue color scheme, but it lacks stars, and the vertical orientation of the bands of color makes it more similar to the French flag than the United States flag. The golden mask does resemble the United States flag as well, though the mask is entirely made of gold. The "Soundtrack" mask for Dallas also is colored red, white, and blue.
PAYDAY 2
Dallas with his HK416 in the first episode of PAYDAY: The Web Series.
He is depicted as the "Mastermind" in PAYDAY 2.
During the search for the rat in Hoxton Revenge, it is revealed that Dallas was originally going to be sold out to the FBI. This was suggested by the FBI handler, though due to the snitch believing him, as the crew leader, to be too risky and well-connected to be sold out, Hoxton was ultimately chosen and arrested in his stead. The conversation can be heard by playing one of the tapes scattered around the Safe House.
Dallas is the only character playable for the tutorialheists. Allegedly, it has been two years since he last participated in a heist, and Bain contracts him to see if he still has what it takes to be a heister.
While this would align with the release dates of the games (PAYDAY: The Heist in 2011 and PAYDAY 2 in 2013), it does not take into consideration the first game canonically spanning from 2011 to 2012 and the second game from 2013 to 2018, with Dallas even making multiple appearances in trailers and PAYDAY: The Web Series post-release.
Dallas wields the JP36 in the background of the Mastermind skill menu.
Dallas, along with Chains, can be seen wielding a Heckler & Koch HK416 in the first and second episodes of PAYDAY: The Web Series. His HK416 has a short barrel, an Aimpoint optic, and some sort of vertical foregrip.
Dallas's younger brother Houston temporarily took over the Hoxton mantle during the early timeline period of PAYDAY 2. He was given the new name Houston when Hoxton was broken out of prison.
In the PAYDAY: The Web Series teaser trailer for PAYDAY 2, Dallas is nowhere to be seen, and it was speculated that he was the driver of the van. However, it is revealed later in the first episode of PAYDAY: The Web Series that Dallas was already at the bank, as seen on Bain's computer in the beginning. There are speculations that he works undercover in the bank, as seen in the second episode of PAYDAY: The Web Series.
Dallas is played by actor Eric Etebari in PAYDAY: The Web Series. His appearance in the series is very different from his in-game counterpart. The actor portraying Dallas has a gray goatee and slightly longer hair. Dallas's voice also lacks the rough "smoker's lung". Despite this, the character has probably remained the same as Simon Kerr still provides the voice of Dallas, and the slight change of appearance could simply be due to the time difference between the first and second games.
Simon Kerr confirmed that he would return to voice Dallas via a post on Twitter. [3]
Dallas is voiced by Kerr in the Breakout trailer, dubbed over Etebari's acting.
He also demonstrates the effects of the Akimbo skill/Ambidexterity perk by dual wielding two weapons at two points during the video, though the way he does so cannot be replicated in-game.
He can be seen dual-wielding both a Crosskill and a Bernetti 9 at the same time, as observed when he shoots the female prison guard with the latter but is still visibly holding the former with his left hand. These pistols can only be wielded in pairs of each weapon (Dual Crosskills vs. Dual Bernetti 9s) in-game.
Later on, during the car chase, Dallas also uses two CAR-4-esque assault rifles simultaneously to fight off the oncoming SWAT team, though only pistols, shotguns, and SMGs can be wielded in said fashion in-game.
In the second episode of PAYDAY: The Web Series, Dallas calls the cops and states his name as "Nathan Steele". This is likely an alias as SINS refers to it as such in PAYDAY 3, and also states that his birthname is unknown. This name is spoken again in the PAYDAY 2: The Dentist Trailer.
In the Butcher's Western Pack trailer, the name "Nathan 'Dallas' Steele" is shown on a wanted poster.
Nathan Steele being an alias used by Dallas suggests that Franklin Steele is also an alias that is used by Houston, suggesting the two brothers coordinated their aliases to have the same last name.
Dallas seems to refer to most people as "buddy" based on his dialogue.
At the end of the PAYDAY 2: The Diamond Heist Trailer Dallas is seen picking up the diamond in its reflection. Behind him, a shadowy figure with glasses (presumably the Dentist) shoots Dallas with a silenced pistol. After a flash of light, both Dallas and the Dentist disappear from the diamond's reflection, and it becomes splattered with blood. This is likely done only to reflect the cursed nature of the artifact and how those who have it in their possession meet a deadly fate, as Dallas is still canonically alive and well in the game's final cutscene and epilogue.
Dallas has a rather apparent aversion towards drugs and anesthesia in general, as demonstrated in the Big Bank teaser where he opted to have his dental fillings done without Novocaine injection.
Novocaine has been reported to "loosen lips" when administered; as such, Dallas was likely being cautious about his identity.
Talking to Dallas in the Safe House prompts him to say, "Whatever's at the end of this rainbow probably isn't gold," which is ironic and foreshadows the vital use of Mayan gold in the secret ending.
In one of his Safe House lines, Dallas says he had a dream where the crew managed to succeed, and he was relaxing on a beach. In the dream, Vlad came up to him and killed him. This is loosely referenced again in the Offshore Payday video, where Hoxton, Chains, and Dallas reach for their guns while he is on the phone, only for Vlad to reassure them that he is "just fucking with" them and that if they're out, he's out too.
At the end of PAYDAY 2, Dallas has bought himself a yacht, which he named Medic Bag, a likely reference to one of his most memorable quotes.
PAYDAY 3
For unknown reasons, Eric Etebari did not reprise his role as Dallas' live-action actor, nor was he invited to anything PAYDAY 3 related, as stated on an Instagram post.[4]
At some point, although Dallas' face was initially shown in cutscenes, an update blurred his face out. The reasoning for this is unknown.
This could be because Dallas' face was based on Eric Etebari's portrayal or could be related to "likeness issues", a reason that was given for Vlad's portrait change, thus necessitating the change.
The squished Dallas sticker in question.
Dallas seems to be quite fond of the Stryk 7 and Adelig RG5, as he can be seen wielding either of these two in almost every piece of keyart since the release of Syntax Error.
A popular PAYDAY community meme depicting Dallas as a squished version of himself became a sticker available as a Twitch Drop, allowing players to customize their guns with a tiny Dallas.
American
