During the second Dying Light 2 AMA, developer Techland revealed a lot of stuff about the game. One thing that it touched upon was the links between the first and second game. A fan asked if there would be any returning characters, and how many if there were. Unfortunately for them, there are no returning characters. Techland insists that this is because of the length of time that has passed between the two titles. I think, more than anything, this shows that the world has truly entered an apocalyptic state. I also think it shines a light on which ending of The Following is canonical. Spoilers for that ending if you’ve yet to finish the expansion.
Returning characters can’t be a thing in Dying Light 2 because everyone has been wiped off the face of the planet. Crane ended The Following by detonating a nuke and burning everything around him. That’s how I see the games linking anyway. Due to this, all the characters are dead, but the impact of what has happened in that first game is felt all over the world. It spreads, like a wildfire, with bombs exploding everywhere until just a few cities are left. This is why everyone is cramming into the cities around them, they don’t want to be caught out in the open.
There will, however, be references to old characters. I’m not sure how this will play into the game if everyone is dead, but I do have a theory. There are GRE facilities in Dying Light 2 that are a core part of your time with it. Within these places, you’ll find decent rewards, but also lore about the GRE and other parts of the world. This is where I think a lot of the characters from the first game will be referenced. They probably turned to the GRE, if they survived the bomb, and either helped or were saved by them. I don’t see how else you’d find a note on them in a new part of the world unless it’s within a facility that’s now been abandoned by the GRE. Hopefully, we get to see how this all links up once the game is out this year.