If the Star Wars and Harry Potter licenses are any guide, yes, we will get multiple copies of the main characters. Actually we're in better shape here compared to HP, since there are more main characters to include. Again looking at other licenses, we'll probably get different torsos for them, to encourage people to get new sets to get new versions of the figs. E.g. Merry and Pippin will eventually be clad in the liveries of Rohan and Gondor. After Lorien the whole company picks up new cloaks, Gandalf will certainly have gray and white iterations, etc. Then, of course, there are tons and tons of more minor but still significant figs to include. For instance, we have yet to see any women (Arwen, Galadriel, Eowyn). And even with these we should get multiples. For instance, we'll get Eowyn in a dress at one point and in armor at another. Plus the SW line has shown that collectors will be happy to pick up fairly obscure characters. Fatty Bolger, anyone? How about Gildor Inglorion? Farmer Maggot? The Gaffer? Rosie? And that's without even leaving the Shire.Sir Kohran wrote: I’m just concerned that future sets won’t be able to avoid continuously featuring the same Fellowship and Rohan characters and generic Orcs. The rest of the sets won’t consist of much beyond trees, rocks and walls, with the only distinctive feature being a baddie specific to a certain area like Saruman, the Mumakil, Denethor, or the Witch King.
I also don't agree that all we'll have will be "trees, rocks and walls". I predict that there will be several sets located around Minas Tirith, that will hopefully fit together to make a larger scene. Plus we haven't seen almost any of the major structures: Bag end, Prancing Pony, Rivendell, Meduseld, Orthanc would all be good sets.
Bruce