I'm thinking Ahsoka needs to die before the CW series ends. That's the only way they could reconcile her absence. Though the CW cartoon really should have been more about Anakin and Obi-Wan together...I feel like Ahsoka was an unnecessary addition to the SW universe.
Ha, maybe for you. My daughter loves watching the Clone Wars, but only when Ahsoka is in the show. She will complain or lose interest in the ones where Ahsoka isn't featured - even Padme isn't worth her time. You guys have to think about the motivation for some of this stuff. Jar Jar was added for comic relief and the kids loved him as much as we hated him. Ahsoka was added to bring girls into the fold for a kid cartoon - not establish stronger continuity between the movies. It will be interesting to see what they do with her, but if it's carbonite freezing for E7, I will be very dissapointed.
I think the next SW film should be a true sequel to the Saga and they should handle the OT characters in one of two ways; set the film far enough in the future that they can cast Hamill, Fisher and Ford to basically hand off the new series to a younger generation of characters or base it off a scenario where we don’t need to see those original characters on film.
Maybe base the film on some other characters living in a post ROTJ universe, where we may hear about how Leia is leading the Senate or Luke is off teaching at the new Academy without actually showing them. Or if they skipped ahead and the series focused around the children of the OT heroes.
One thing I don't want to see is Luke, Leia and/or Han recast with different actors. I've seen some comparison between the new Abrams Star Trek and how Disney could handle a sequel to Star Wars but I call bull****. Abrams didn’t really come up with a way to recast the actors as much as he wiped out four decades of continuity with a time travel film and started over from scratch. I liked the movie, and I accept it because time travel isn't new to that universe, but I don’t want to see that with Star Wars.
I can accept the EU being thrown out and not being taken into consideration when it comes to sequels, but the six Saga films and the Clone Wars animated series, all of which came with Lucas’ input, should stay.
E...
+1 to just about everything you said E. I would like to see Han, Leia, and Luke all in there, but as mostly small parts handing off the baton to a new generation. I can't believe people are suggesting things like "Han's not here because he was killed off screen." I will be so ridiculously dissapointed with that. This movie is going to be huge - if they want Ford, Hamill, and Fisher in the movie, then I'm sure they will get them.
As for the storyline, there's so many routes they could go with this. Mopping up the Empire seems logical, but not very entertaining. I don't really want to see them pursuing warlord-lead clans around the galaxy. I know not everyone is an EU fan, but there are some fantastic sotrylines they could go after or at least base a new plot on:
#1 - The New Jedi Order makes the most sense. The Solo Kids would make an easy transition, introducing the new characters and building some cool new Jedi with Luke at the helm. Don't like Hamill? He could be initial the headmaster, then killed off...or just not on screen for much of the movie.
#2 - Korriban was the home planet of the Sith and made a resurgance after the fall of Palpatine. They could go with some Jedi exploring Korriban and falling to the dark side ghosts there. Heck, if you're rebuilding the jedi then maybe someone is rebuilding the sith and we'll have a new Jedi/Sith war down the road. Imagine that lightsaber battle scene! In the Legacy comics, the new Sith leader does away with the rule of two.
#3 - Clones, clones, clones. In Dark Empire, the Emperor's essence travels to a younger clone body, which means you could have Palpatine back again with another actor fairly easily. Maybe he resumes control over the remnant Empire. What if a younger, clone Palpatine joins the New Jedi Order and is the one to kill Luke? Maybe the new trilogy will be Leia's kids eventually taking down Clone Palps?
#4 - One Name: Legacy. They could go 100 years into the future to encompass all or any of the existing EU. In the history of the SW universe, 100 years is a rather insignificant amount of time. They could start off with the grandchildren of Luke and Leia with new threats the galaxy. This would avoid having to get OT cast members back AND wouldn't tread on the EU outside of the Legacy comics themselves of course.
Just some fodder to think about, but I'd be happy with any of these ideas. I just don't want to see any time travelling or find that some hidden figure was around prior to EI orchastrating everything from the prior six movies. And I definitely don't want to OT characters just written off as having died in the aftermath of the war. Recasting the core OT characters would also be a HUGE mistake IMO. Although...
At one point Lucas said that CGI tech used for Yoda was at the point where they could essentially create an artifical human character that would seem as real as any actor. Is there any chance that they're planning to bring back ROTJ-age Luke/Leia/Han with CGI? I can't imagine it, but seems like yet another possibility if the tech really is that good.