The more I think about it, the more I predict that the next new DLC character has to be related to the sea.
Now from the perspective of new players, they likely have roamed the map a lot, and encountered both the caves and the ocean, but more so the caves. Sea exploration is hard for new players because it isn't as simple as traveling into a sinkhole. We have had many updates in the ocean, but a proper sea exploration character has not been made to explore these updates.
Warly/Wormwood were added to promote cooking/farming, Winona was added for bosses (and also Trusty Tape), Wortox/Walter for exploration on mainland and caves, and Wurt was added for a little bit of sea exploration for kelp to help build merm kingdom. The only "real" character for exploring the sea is Woodie's Weregoose transformation, so it's very sad that we don't have a real aficionado explorer of the sea.
Now, Woodlegs is a great pirate but doesn't seem like the right character to add, since he loses sanity constantly on land (but it doesn't rule him out). Walani seems like a great candidate, since her surfboard allows picking things up along the coastline, and is probably my prediction for a good starter character for sea exploration.
Now, an entirely new character could be possible, but then I'm talking about a deep ocean character. Someone who is capable of living off of fish for a long time. Someone like a fisherman who is very good at fishing (and eating) all kinds of fish, and has a benefit to eating fish crockpot foods. He'd be able to use the Tackle Receptacle and Crabby Hermit fishing items more effectively than others. He could craft his own special rod or fishing net, or his own special bait, and give Crabby Hermit a run for her money. The player would be able to learn that each fish is unique in its own special way, and would also learn about Wobsters, barnacles, sea flowers, Gnarwails, sharks, and much more going on in the sea. There are so many varieties of fish and sea life out there that I would predict a fisherman to be the next exploration character coming soon to DST.
TLDR; I predict Walani as a sea exploration starter character, otherwise a new fisherman character capable of exploring the sea, sea creatures, and exotic fish in general.
What are some of your own character predictions? 