User blog comment:Kowys/Reiner's close brushes with death and what it means for his character/@comment-30473998-20180831214150

I honestly wish that I could give kudos to blog posts. If I could, I wouldn't just give one... this is a very good point (like basically everything you say, ah). I personally do not have any theories as to which of the three will be Reiner's demise, but these are all really good theories. Like with Annie, my perspective on this is just "I'll wait to see what happens when Isayama ultimately decides fate".

Another point I want to bring up is the way Isayama writes things. This series is an example of "anybody can die", and just about any character that could've potentially been a great addition to the main cast is dead (notice how Floch comes out of nowhere? That's because they probably needed more people). The only ones that survive are, of course, the main cast -- and Isayama's favorite. Reiner. He's also gotten an awful lot of character development and an important role, and since there really isn't anybody there to replace him (if he ever does disappear from the story), he's probably going to stick around for the timebeing.

Tl;dr? Reiner is likely here to stay because nobody with that much character development and background can replace him.