I have come from the future and was allowed to deliver a single spoiler about 2x2 to this very thread. Behold:

Chiaki's death was too predictable but she was too popular of a character to kill early on. So Kodaka let his femdom fetish take over and because she's an AI she gets corrupted by Alter Ego Junko early on and serves as the new mastermind with a more dommy mommy personality.