So I just realized people thinking Zi-O is a female comes from this:

https://i.imgur.com/oJJ2vaa.png

Which people are giving credence to because the person called Zi-O having "Rider" spelled out on their face. The way it's worded sounds more like one of the original ideas for the show was to have a female but that clearly changed. The same poster earlier said another idea involved Rider personalities being switched into different bodies. (so you'd have Takumi acting like Takeru or whatever)

Takumi? You mean Seiji Takeiwa? Honestly I think he should retire soon and it's getting clear he's getting out of shape but if Zi-O's going to transform using stuff with previous Riders, I guess it'd only really be fitting for Takeiwa to do it, he's been the main Rider since Agito

I think he (she??) looks kind of cool but the katakana eyes make it look like he's permanently looking off to the side at something.

I think what Aoi was trying to say was Takumi as in Faiz. So the character Takumi Inui aka Kamen Rider Faiz being body-swapped with Takeru Tenkuuji aka Kamen Rider Ghost(correct me if I am wrong Aoi).

As for Mr. Takaiwa the suit actor, yeah, I guess maybe a few more years and then pass the torch for lead rider role to maybe some of his suit actor juniors at JAE such as Jun Watanabe who we know as the suit actor for Magical Girl Beast or Kamen Rider Rogue. Takaiwa I think in the future has a few options to go to the way I see it. Either go the same route as Fukuzawa who has been suit acting mostly for sentai shows only to move on as action director, or go the same route as Okamoto and continue to suit act but maybe as non-lead yet crucial roles. Actually, now that I think about it I kinda wanna see him suit act as a big time villain character such as Evolt, etc.

That's a pretty cool design considering it's based on a watch.

My two cents: Would love a Lady Rider. Like others, I'm betting that, if anything out of the ordinary (doubtful), Zi-O is a Kid Rider.
I think, when you focus on the fact that Rider is a tool to sell merchandise as it's primary function, the PreCure argument becomes pretty compelling. When marketing a henshin concept to the girl's toy market, Toei have it covered; Kamen Rider is marketed toward boys. And both demographics are, by and large, fine with this. They're not... sophisticated... adults... like... us?

If ZI-O is meeting past Riders, I really hope they get the actual casts back to reprise their roles and not go the "alt universe with nobodies playing fake versions of past characters" route that Decade did. Even just having the costumes without the actors would be better than that.

I love how Kamen Rider can make A WATCH into an awesome super hero suit! Seriously, this suit is just fantastic looking from that one picture, I can't wait to see the actual thing.

Quite a lot of intriguing rumors flying around too. The idea of a more comedic and 4th wall breaking anniversary season could be pretty fun. Sometimes "humor"-oriented tokusatsu doesn't work for me, but I think this is one concept I could love if done right. The female main rider rumor seems unlikely, but I would personally be quite happy if it turned out to be true. I could TOTALLY see them doing some kind of Samus Aran reveal near the end that Zi-O was actually a woman the whole time though! Regardless, I'm looking forward to this show, although I might need to watch the last handful of Heisei shows I haven't seen before I start on it.

It would be cool if our main rider was female, but I kinda doubt it. Kamen Rider is pretty much a Shonen series since it is aim to young boys. I doubt many of them would be up for a female rider as the main character.

There are also rumors that Zi-O is going to end early and have three overarching movies, since Emperor Heisei abdicates around April/May.

I mean, I'd be okay with a short series. But I don't see any reason why TOEI should break up the schedule they have now.