How should they get rid of each companion for the sequel?

A person can run marathons and drop dead of some random thing tomorrow.

Agreed 100%. Let's just hope BW really isn't that stupid. 

Yep, they really should've gotten rid of Kaidan, Ashley, Tali, Liara, Wrex etc. right after ME1. Not.

True, but she's pretty boring and doesn't seem to be as popular as the other characters so I could see BW letting her go for a more interesting character with little backlash.

I like Lexi and think she has a lot of unrealized potential.  I was disappointed she wasn't a LI.

They shouldn't.

/thread


Lexi unpopular?  Every other asari in the game wants to look like her!

I was definitely more attracted to the MET than the DA series, and following Shepard & Co was a big part of it.  Partly that loss of existing squadmates is why I liked ME2 less.  I was very happy to see their return in ME3.  So I liked DAO.  It was enjoyable.  I wasn't a huge fan of DA2.  Can't place a finger on it precisely but it's true I missed my Warden.  However, I really enjoyed DAI (might be the accent of my Inquisitor that I liked, for starters) and we got references to characters from DAO and DA2, if not inclusion.

Do I want Ryder back for MEA2?  Yes.  I also want most if not all the squadmates back.  If they're unkillable then there's no reason not to bring them back.  I find a recurring cast helps me become more invested in the game.  Honestly, I still miss Shepard, but it's clear that Andromeda is not his territory and the mission of the AI is not the mission of a Council Spectre.

This reply right here proves you aren't actually reading other people's replies, try doing that first before arguing. Nothing of what you said had anything to do with what Shadow said. Shadow was saying companions changing doesn't do any good if you aren't going to expand on the character. So either expand on existing characters or bring in new companion(s) and EXPAND on them. Don't just bring in new characters to be lazy. That a good writer doesn't need to bring in a new character every story to keep things fresh or bring "variety". 

My own take: Expanding on a character is called growth, something that makes a good character and story. Any actual writer knows this. It is actually why the ME team doesn't do as well writing characters and world building because they lack the fundamentals of writing; character growth, world growth, it all matters. Restarting because you can't expand doesn't solve the problem it covers up your inability to make a compelling story or characters. Your way isn't the only way to do things and it isn't even the BEST way. DA team can work their system because they can keep continuity and growth within the world rather then the characters (though the characters you meet more then once do have growth!). ME team doesn't have this and their games aren't about world building as much as they are about the characters which means switching them out all the time is the worst thing they could do. They need to stop applying the DA approach if they are doing a character driven game. If they want a world building game, they need to focus on world building and less on character development.

/an actual writer

Now on to the question at hand: Drack, Lexi, and Kallo are really the only ones I'd remove or switch out as they have no real ties to Ryder. Anyone who could be an Li should stick around especially as we haven't had a series in which an Li develops romantically in the beginning and sticks all the way through. To me that that would be an interesting thing to explore and if done well could be very rewarding experience and story.

Lets step back a moment and realize why they made the squadmate changes in those games.

ME1 to ME2:  Small squad to huge squad.  Of that squad, 1 was guaranteed to die, and another was possible, so right at the start, they only had 4 left to work with.  Of those 4, 2 made it into ME2, 1 was a squadmate you could get with your first mission after getting off the opening railroad tracks, and the other you met right away, and picked up late game.  50% retention by my math.  33% if you go with 2 of 6, instead of 2 of 4 guaranteed survivors.  Of the other two, Liara gets a whole DLC dedicated to her to expand on her otherwise forgettable cameo, and the other you do meet, but they rightfully don't want to trust you because you chose to hang with a bunch of terrorists.

ME2 to ME3:  Huge squad back to small squad.  ME2 had a massive squad, and given the opening sequence, it is extremely plausible that they are scattered to the winds and unable to be with you.  Plus, don't forget, you can finish ME2 and literally have your entire squad save 2 dead. They had to account for that in ME3.  But, you still get to start with one of the ME1 squaddies (Ashley or Kaiden), meet and acquire as a squaddie an original ME1 squaddie (Liara) right away, and a ME1&2 one very early (Garrus).  The only other holdover who ended up in your squad was Tali, but she came far too late in the game (again) for my taste.  Everyone who survived got at least a cameo, if not an integral part to a mission.  And, in the end, your squad at the end of ME3 could have been darned near identical to your squad at the end of ME1.  Garrus, Liara, Ash or Kaiden, and Tali.  James, EDI and Javik are the newbies.  And it isn't like EDI is brand new, she was in the entire ME:2.

It hasn't been spoiled yet for me, so I don't actually know if it's possible for any of the ME:A squaddies to buy it in game.  Which if true is too bad, a choice there to keep or kill one of them to advance the greater good would have added something to the game, and been an actual choice to think about.

Given that history, I would be shocked if any follow-on to ME:A doesn't retain 33-50% of the current squad in the next game.  You probably won't have access to them during the railroad tracks opening section, but you will probably get access to 1 or 2 of them almost immediately after that, with another one making an early cameo and then joining you with the game about 75% done.

For the non-squad, Kallo is probably with you the whole time.  Either Suvi or Lexi will be as well.  Gil risks being Engineer Adamsed.  But, I would be ok with all 4 as permanent Tempest crew.  Sadly, we are probably stuck with SAM forever.

All squad-mates always left in-between games, there is no reason that ME:A will handle it differently in a sequel.
I don´t doubt the fixed, non-romanceable crew, that is not affected much by the player (like Joker, Chakwas, EDI in the OT) , will return as crew and that the squad will return as NPCs and temporary companions. Possibly one or at most two fan-favourites/writer´s pets will join as permanent squad-members late in the game, but most will leave and be absent for a large part of the game (safe for phone calls and emails). Assuming anything else, is given the past games, delusion.
Accounting for all their possible states simply ties up too many resources and makes the entry for new players hard. It also limits the options to present new viewpoints to the players which is most effectively done using squad-members. 

I'd prefer a current fixture being improved to maintain continuity to just swapping out characters for the heck of it. I generally enjoy it more when some characters stick around to share the PC's history. Chakwas was boring, but I wouldn't have traded her for anyone else because she went through a lot with Shepard. 

This completely changes the tone I think you were going for.