At the end of Episode 9, Kol is dead, and the Ship of the Dead is destroyed. The only two Klingons left who are named are L'Rell (a prisoner) and Voq (probably Tyler). While there may be something which happens here in the endgame, I doubt it will result in either of them becoming the primary antagonist - and it will take some time to set the pieces in place. I also doubt too many substantial new characters are going to be introduced in the back half of the season. All of the important recurring characters (Sarek, Mudd, Cornwell, etc) were introduced by the end of the sixth episode. I think we may see alternate/mirror versions of each of these characters, but I don't think we'll see a new "heavy" introduced into the show - if for no other reason than because if the Discovery is really now sliding through alternate dimensions, then the antagonists cannot follow along - unless they are on the ship already. Thus by process of elimination, I feel like Lorca must be the antagonist for the remainder of the season, as much as I don't want that to be the case. If this isn't done, the back half will basically slide into an episodic adventure ("alternate timeline of the week") which I would enjoy, but wouldn't fit with the earlier tone and plot arc of the series at all. Thoughts?
Lorca will be Lorca, doing his own thing in his own way. But I have a feeling that Episode 10 will introduce us to the Season 1.5 antagonist, who might also be named Gabriel Lorca.
Spoiler (Parallel Universe) Captain Lorca Spoiler (who brought them there) and Spoiler (Klingon sleeper agent Voq) Ash Tyler.
We still don't know how Klingons went from the disorganized rabble they currently are to the ultra-nationalistic force seen in TOS. I suspect we're not done with them yet.
When the books first came out, I remember developing an irrational dislike of Harry Potter for two reasons: 1. As a lifelong sci-fi fan, I just had a visceral dislike of anything fantasy (I've since got better). 2. They were popular, and when you're 19 and a nerd, you pretty much hate anything that normal people like.