Lucasfilm does not want to “keep relying on old legacy characters” in new Star Wars films, says Rogue One writer

It looks like one of the writers behind one of the new Star Wars films believes that the new Star Wars films should continue to build on the new characters, not continue with the old characters.

A clip of the upcoming Star Wars film, The Last Jedi, was shown off during a Disney shareholder meeting and luckily for us, someone detailed what they saw. According to the reporter (you won't see too many spoilers here), the clip featured both Luke, Rey, Chewbacca, Leia, and Finn.

While the new films have utilized classic characters from the Star Wars series (Episode 7 featured Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Leia, as well), it appears as though Lucasfilm wants to move away from "legacy" Star Wars characters and focus on a new generation of characters.

"One of the thing things we really want to do at Lucasfilm is create a universe and not keep relying on old legacy characters," Gary Whitta, the original writer for Star Wars: Rogue One, told ComingSoon.net (via GamesRadar). "We’ve got Rey and Finn and Kylo Ren, they’ve already introduced a new generation of characters. Whatever kind of Star Wars films they’re making 10 or 20 years from now, I don’t think they’re going to be relying on the same legacy story elements as we have in the past."

While he later clarified that he was "speaking purely as a fan," Whitta elaborated that it "makes sense to [him] that you don’t want to keep telling the same story over and over again. You want to tell new stories".

Now, Whitta may be speaking as a fan, but he speaks as a fan with inside information on what Disney and Lucasfilm are aiming to do with the series. However, this could explain Han's fate in episode 7, but it doesn't spell out good things for the rest of the classic characters.