I have a feeling there are going to be more companions than one might think - at least just based off of what I have seen in my first play through.
I believe if you go the 'evil' route, don't side with Astarian, etc. that there is going to be alternate companions that you can adopt into your party to replace them. They won't be "origin" characters, but instead they will be kind of the "opposite" of the origin character or tie into their story from a different perspective. Perhaps this won't happen with all of them... but I have a feeling the guy hunting Astarian might be a potential party member in the future. I wouldn't be shocked if there are other 'alternate companions' as well - there might even be some that I hadn't thought of.
I could be wrong though. But I do think that would be a pretty cool approach.
