For example we could have a new non-nilable pointer type (that would not have any default value), or an optional monad natively in the language (or any other thing in-between, there are many possibilities). That would allow the compiler to statically report about missing checks, without breaking backward compatibility.

But we all know that it's not going to happen soon because while not breaking any existing code, it goes against the "everything has a zero-value" dogma. That was the meaning of my message.