Is wanting Shepard back a newer trend?

For context, while I have played mass effect before this year, it was only around January or February of this year that I became a true fan of the series. I've played thru the trilogy so much that I have nearly 20 days of playtime on my Xbox account for a single player game. I even played Andromeda and have a good time with it. On top of that, I have been lurking on this subreddit for a little bit now as well. To put it bluntly, I love the series.

Now, it's no secret that probably the most contentious argument is the return of Shepard. I belong to the camp of wanting Shepard to return in ME5 and I know I'm not alone in that opinion. However, I did get the thought that maybe it's being pushed by newer players to the series. The reason I say this is mainly because to me, the thoughts, feelings and hopes for the series is pretty new to me and to quite a few players from what all I have seen. Perhaps if I had played the series back when it originally came out, maybe I would think differently.

I love the games, it literally cracked my top three games of all times and I want the next game to succeed and be awesome just as much as the next fan. I hope that it stands up to the legacy of the trilogy and finds a way to build off of it and I doubt I am alone in that. So don't roast me too hard in the comments please.