Well, as far as having completely new characters, im kinda bummed about it, but on the other hand i cant wait to see what they come up with. Its rumored that their going to keep scorpion and subzero, however. To answer your question, i think they should make characters with completely new backgrounds and purposes, instead of making characters that kind of represent the old ones. Like no mockery of shang tsung or any thing like that, but they gotta keep the ninja oriented characters like noob, scorpion, ermac, etc.

definately another VAMPIRE and SHOKAN, or a mix between the two. THAT WOULD BE KRAZY!!!

(see future mk games disscusion forums then see the "post your fantasy kharaktors here!")

I would definetly like to see a Japanese Female character in MK8. Her name....Akari. She would be supporting a Dojo costume for her primary and a Traditional costume for her alt. If there are weapons in MK8, I would have her support the Naginata or the Pudao.
more characters to come...