Star Wars BEWARE SPOILER ALERTS NOW AHEAD

I think I'm in a position where I can be blissfully unaware of the larger SW universe.
At the time of the originals, I never really bought into the comics & only "dipped my toes" in a couple of the books.
Had I continued, I would probably be more up to speed with all the corners of that universe, but I think there is so much material that i's probably too late for me to really immerse myself.
That's maybe why I can just take the films at face value & not worry so much about plot holes & canon.
As for Lucas, I think he told the story he wanted to tell & decided it was time to hand it over to someone else & even though it is under the diznee umbrella, it is still the Lucasfilm mob that are driving it. I watched the bonus dics from episode VII & the diznee folks didn't appear to be meddling at all. I think their stance is that Lucasfilm & ILM know what they are doing. You can't argue with a multi-billion dollar franchise really

Film number eight, and finally we move away from the Skywalker dynasty story.

Film number eight, and finally we move away from the Skywalker dynasty story.

*wibble*