I'd hope a "faceless" character like V in Cyberpunk that you can customize to your liking. I always struggle with RPGs that have predefined characters, because they often kinda go against what in my mind would be a possible personification in that world, and that potential clash makes me struggle with immersing myself in it.
For me it's the exact opposite, I'd rather play a pre made story with a premade central character because otherwise it's this hollow "just spend some time" thing.
I've said it many times before but Letho would be my pick. Very nuanced character, big protagonist energy, CDPR original content so they don't have to worry about lore as much. Also an even better character than Geralt if you want to really lean into the morally grey side of the Witcher universe.
I definitely see parts of it - at least narratively - but I think having Ciri as a full protagonist poses a lot of problems. Either you have to explain away her powers somehow - or you lean into it and end up with moving away from the Witcheriness. You'll have no Witcher senses, no potions, no signs and instead have a bunch of magic (not to mention teleportation and time travel).
One thing I loved about the original three games - through save importing you could have a line of unbroken continuity (with only a few strange abrupt departures from the narrative.. #TeamShani)
Letho is too cool to be killed, such a great character in my opinion. Plus he took care of Yen, you know, and he had his reasons - even if he got a bit naively manipulated. Loved the conversation with him at the end, sharing a drink.
The unbroken continuity is cool, though I think very few things carry over all the way from 1 to 3? I know there is the tattoo, probably something else too.
The opinions here are like people saying they don't want to play as Zero in Megaman X4 because it was clunky in X3. Chill out, they are not copy pasting it for a dedicated game.