I'd certainly love to see Watanabe have a lot more screentime in the sequel, along with Sally Hawkins too - the pair of them, even if not the main protagonists, are both brilliant actors and their characters could bring so much to the universe Gareth is creating here. I was hoping they'd play a substantial role in G2014, but they only served as plot devices to an extent (which I wasn't so much let down by, just think Edwards and co missed an opportunity for some rich world-building there.)
Anyway yeah, if Edwards decides to reveal more about Monarch in the sequels (they should definitely do this, it'd be excellent to see what Monarch get up to!) then it'd both make sense and be brilliant for Watanbe and Hawkins to have more screen time!
As per lead role I'm not sure.I kinda think they'll go with someone people can relate to more than Serizawa, as they did with Ford Brody, which I'm not against. Hopefully it'll be someone with a little more depth than Aaron Taylor-Johnson though! (Don't get me wrong; he wasn't bad in G2014, just a little flat. He did the job but his character could have been so much more)