Assuming some kind of a feature is coming indeed, it'll be interesting to see if it's a full-fledged Iron Maiden release, potentially accompanied with some live concert or a selection of live bonuses, e.g like The BBC Archives, or more of a "third party" product with some license blessing from the Maiden management. I could see the latter option being more of an observation of the Iron Maiden phenomenon with little to no input or major inclusion of the current band members, hence the involvement of some ex-members and stage technicians etc.
Well, whatever the case, I believe it might very well be a documentary of the Iron Maiden phenomenon with, for example, emphasis on the fan point of view, instead of a band history document.
Admittedly, some big Maiden history document would certainly tie-in with the rumoured/confirmed "50th anniversary tour" - which I still think might be more of a throwaway line in the tour announcement (e.g "--setlist and stage show will celebrate the rich history of the band that reaches its 50th anniversary this December") rather than a straightforward title for the tour. Examples of ehm... somewhat similar thinking from the past: 25th anniversary tour/Eddie Rips Up the World, The Number of the Beast 20th anniversary/A Matter of the Beast
Given how well the Future Past tickets sold in major European markets (there still hasn't been too many Maiden shows after the COVID break, I believe) and there won't be that many tours left anyway, the speculated/rumoured multiple Stadium shows sounds plausible enough. It's not that special though, given that Maiden has frequently played stadium gigs in Europe, e.g multiple shows in Ullevi, Gothenburg and even here in Finland they played four stadium shows between 2008-2013 and there most likely would've been fifth as well if the Helsinki Olympic Stadium wasn't under renovation during The Book of Souls tour. They ended up playing outdoors show anyway, but yeah, not at a stadium.
Doing "stadium/festival" labelled tours isn't really anything new:
“Next summer we will finally get to play the huge European stadium and festival tour for Legacy of the Beast originally set for 2020."
- Rod Smallwood, Dec. 2021
A phrase "special tour" has been repeated in this thread and I don't want to appear annoyingly nitpicky, as I (probably) do understand what is meant by it, but I think most, if not all of the Maiden tours in recent history have been more or less special indeed.
Be it The Book of Souls, which saw one of their best stage shows of the past couple of decades, Bruce's glorious return to the stage after beating cancer and a carefully picked, fresh and exciting setlist. Or The Legacy of the Beast, which gave us another spectacular stage show, some long-awaited classic cuts returning and even some deeper cuts, along with all the essential hits. And now we're treated with the Future Past, that caters many beloved Somewhere in Time cuts (inc. never-before-played Alexander the Great) along with a handful of other classics and Senjutsu representation. Even before the mentioned there was Maiden England, that despite its somewhat uninspired setlist structure, brought back Seventh Son of a Seventh Son and some other long-awaited cuts (e.g The Prisoner and it's not like Moonchild, Afraid to Shoot Strangers, Wasted Years or Phantom of the Opera were exactly overplayed) and as far as greatest hits standards go, a Maiden classics extravagance!
So, next year. Probably a very spectacular stage show! After the sleek, futuristic layout of the current tour, I'd guess that the next one will hold more actual props incorporated to the stage set, in the vein of TBOS/LOTB/SBIT and such. As I speculated before, I strongly believe that there will be some rather direct references to the classic stage sets, but no straightforward replication.
Setlist? Most likely very special indeed - just as they have been for a while. No doubt there will be ~5-7 spots for the obvious selection, Iron Maiden & Fear of the Dark included. Remains to be seen whether they keep rotating The Number of the Beast classics, only including like 2 of them for next year, or if there will be the usual history tour selection (Hills, Number, Hallowed). Powerslave representation is very much expected and I agree with many that Rime of the Ancient Mariner might be played. Add 2 Minutes to Midnight and/or the title track there and that'll be it, most likely. That still leaves room for some surprise cuts and classic inclusions.
Most likely they'll play a set of 15 songs (or even 16, if there aren't that many longer, or otherwise very demanding songs) and use the familiar stage structure, with the usual added trick or two to it - which is perfectly fine for me.
I'm sure it'll be a great show with an interesting set - I honestly don't think their setlist approach will suddenly turn into a far less-inspired one at this point. Will it be even more (or less) special than these brilliant tours we've got to enjoy over the recent years? Maybe so! I'll be there to see it, anyway.