I highly, highly doubt that all of them don't have some role to play at some point in the story. Like you said, Fdingo, it would be pointless to flesh out the characters otherwise. However, your example of the TV series is a bit faulty...I've never seen a series that has as many as 15+ characters that you got to see every week in every episode of every season.
Plus, how in the heck are you supposed to reap the connections you sow in ME2 if all your buddies are tagging along with you all the time? At that point, they're just more cannon fodder. Sure, you might be able to have an idle chat with them between missions, but that's hardly helping you in the grand scheme of things.
I've heard these rumors (and until BioWare confirms individual bits of information coming from whatever "leaks" we read, yes, they're still just rumors) that some former squaddies will have very little screen time, but I just don't think that's the case. BioWare has made an investment with these characters, and they have an interest to see all of them through in some way or another. I really don't think that all we're going to see of the "background work" these characters are doing is a message in our inbox or an entry in our codex.
Think about it like the last Harry Potter book: we saw very little of all the broad range of characters outside the Harry/Ron/Hermione circle until they had an important part to play in the story. They may have been characters we really cared about, and characters that were really good friends of the trio, but you didn't see the whole gaggle of them bopping about the landscape like the three main characters were for the vast majority of the book. Yet, when they were called upon for their part, they were brilliant. I, for one, still have faith that BioWare won't just toss characters aside...it would be creative suicide to do otherwise.
Only time will tell, so we shouldn't get all excited before we know anything for sure.
Modifié par CDRSkyShepard, 07 novembre 2011 - 12:03 .