This brings up a quick slightly OT question. They keep making a big thing about the new character being a descendant of Han and Leia, but I thought the Fel line was already descended from Jaina. So why is her being a Solo such a big deal, when the Fels basically are already?
The husband took the cool Solo family name rather than passing on his own name. It's happened in the past.
If Ania is estranged from the Fels--and that's possible given what became of the Fels in the Legacy era--she may have reclaimed the Solo name herself. IIRC, when will meet Ania, she will be a junkyard operator on some remote Outer Rim world. But I do recall the folks at Dark Horse saying something about how Ania's relation to Han and Leia will be a mystery that won't be solved anytime soon.
The Legacy comics were plotted, long before the announcement of the sequel trilogy, so Maybe Ania is meant to replace Cade? Maybe Lucasfilm filmed them in on sequel details, that the public won't know for awhile. They might have to relaunch Cade, if there's no Mara, since she appears in Legacy 11
Cade will be appearing in the new Legacy series, but not right away, according to the new writer/artist. It'll take place following the events in Legacy War. It's best to think of the original series with Cade as "Book 1" and the new one with Ania as "Book 2," IMO.
I don't recall Legacy ever establishing that Cade descended from Ben. I mean, I assumed that, but I don't think it was ever stated. Outside of his last name and the Force Ghosts of Luke, Mara, and Anakin (I think Anakin and Mara might have been drug induced hallucinations), we know that Cade is related to them, but we don't know how.
For a final villain, I think Krayt can fit the bill if he kills whoever discovers him so that the One Sith can remain secret. Or whoever can survive Krayt without discovering his identity. Luke was already made aware of him in Apocalypse so it would make little sense for him not to follow up on that. How I would like to see it end. I wouldn't mind if Han was the one that made the sacrifice, Leia take over the Jedi Order, and Luke go off into the Unknown Regions or something, a la Paul Atreides in Dune Messiah. Let's not forget Lando. He should become leader of the Alliance. Or the revitalized Trade Federation.
I didn't think Lucas had a say any more now he sold the franchise to Disney. If they did go for two lines I wonder how they would brand them so that people would know the difference?
They could rebrand the original EU line as "Infinities" (Dark Horse used it for a "What if?" Star Wars comic series set in a different continuity). They even came up with a small logo for that line: http://timelineuniverse.net/images/infinities_logoR.jpg
If the stuff established in the new movies is interesting, I would happily read books or comics set in their universe.
Since the majority of Star Wars fans have surely never read any of that stuff - will they care? I'm sure the subset that read the EU are large but they are still a subset.
Oh yes - I'm getting quite excited about it. Put it this way - I saw the first movie more times than I care to remember when it came out in 1977. I purchased all the novels, the video's, comics and so on. I was a fan. After the long (very long) fallow period I grabbed the hardback of Heir To The Empire when it came out and followed the ever increasing number of novels until I realised part of the way through the Yuuzhan Vong books that I really didn't give a fig anymore. It just wasn't doing it for me. Some 15 years ago I got my son up on a Sunday morning and left my wife asleep. I sat him on my lap and showed him Star Wars, his first movie - he was three weeks old. I am still a fan (and he has grown up to be a fan too). The old EU may have lost its appeal, but the idea of a whole new start with new films and a new (hopefully better) EU has a lot of appeal to me. Bring it on...
The entire EU will be neatly sorted out in Dark Horse Comics forthcoming mini-series: Crisis On Infinite Nerfs.
It's, of course, anybody's guess about what they will do at this point but I really hope that, like with the Clone Wars, some elements of the EU find their way in. If nothing else, I'd like to see Mara and the Solo/Skywalker children (i.e. Jaina, Jacen, Ben). Including Lumiya as a Sith antagonist would be icing on the cake IMHO. From what I've read so far, it sounds like they're hinting at a daughter and granddaughter for the Solos, so that might be Jaina and Allana, which suggests that we're looking at a post-LOTF storyline (if they preserve continuity). I would personally like a LOTF-era storyline because it would sync well with the actors' current IRL ages and having a second Galactic Civil War would provide a good backdrop for the movies though the war may take more than three movies to resolve. OTOH given that some of the LOTF had a lot of Boba Fett "filler" in them, perhaps they could've wrapped up the books faster without the bloat?
^ I actually wouldn't mind seeing an adaptation of the Yuuzhan Vong War. I thought that was better executed than the second Civil War. Plus it could help set up the Solo kids for a LOTF-inspired movie.
Oh well played Sir. Well played indeed ! And for what it's worth, I can't see the new continuity taking in another civil war, the Vong or much of anything except maybe a few characters and very general ideas such as Mara Jade and her being 'The Emperors Hand'. A pro screenwriter just wouldn't bother reading the EU, wouldn't want to be constrained by it and would have some pretty specific story instructions from Disney to boot. I'd expect some carry through from Clone Wars though - maybe Ashoka and Ventress, plus a return of most of Mace Windu.