According to the interview I read above, Kennedy is in control of the creative aspects and wants to preserve the integrity of the characters
So... does that mean Han is back to shooting first?

I keed. Hopefully the Palpatine clone storyline [from dark Empire] is ditched. I wasn't a big fan of that idea, although I haven't read it yet (halfway through the Zhan trilogy now).
New characters... well rounded, flushed out characters. That'll help.
The Ep 7 writers must be in a bit of a pickle. Canon to the right of them, canon to the left of them...
And rabid fans! Mara Jade will more or less have to be addressed, right? Or not? Shit, I don't even know.
Well, not knowing is also pretty exciting.
Logic would have the film set 20-30 years after ROTJ for balance... so Luke, Liea, Han, Chewie and Lando
should still be alive, but there is no reason to think they would have to be involved in the story. If they set the new trilogy even later than that, more room to move around the established EU to date. It might be fun to skip two generations and leave the "wiping out the remnants of the empire" nugget. I have always loved the idea of a New Jedi Order, though I haven't gotten that far in the EU either.
The EU considers Jaina and Jacen Solo canon, but that all depends on if you the fan consider the EU canon.
Makes sense... EU canon. I assume Mara Jade falls into the same category?