[the.Merines]

Originally Posted by Iriliane

Wait a minute...

Spoiler for Major spoilers for the series:

If Shamshel blows up in a rain of blood instead of being retreived intact then NERV won't have aquired a working S2 Engine to attempt and fail to install on unit 4. As a result the US branch of NERV may not be consumed by the sea of Dirac. Which means that unit 4 may survive. Taking this into consideration I'd assume the new character is likely it's pilot. Maybe we'll get lucky and she can die instead of Touji.

Also with three new useable units maybe Kensuke will finally get his chance to be a pilot. Though it does seem amusing that the only one screwed up enough to WANT to pilot isn't allowed to.

This, combined with the fact that Shinji doesn't find Kensuke during his "I'm aimlessly wandering around after running away" phase, leads me to believe that focus will be shifted off Touji and Kensuke in favor of these new pilot(s). Some other fate awaits Unit 04, I'd say...