“A recent SyFy interview with Leland Chee, longtime Lucasfilm employee and keeper of the ‘Holocron,’ the official Star Wars story database, revealed that Chee views the death of Chewbacca (in the Star Wars expanded universe) as the catalyst that sparked the full reset of the entire canon.
Chee later clarified his statement on Twitter to stress that this is not Disney’s official explanation for the canon reset, but his personal take on the creative decision. But the Chewbacca anecdote highlights the difficulties Disney faced with the acquisition of the Star Wars franchise, summarizing the problem with the expanded universe in a nutshell.”
Read more at Forbes.
"There's this notion that everything changed when everything became Legends. And I can see why people think that. But, you know, having worked with George I can tell you that it was always very clear — and he made it very clear — that the films and the TV shows were the only things that he considered Canon. That was it."
Dave Filoni interview on 'The Star Wars show' [41.40 mark]- https://youtu.be/hcNXPNXOv2A?t=2500
..
"What George did with the films and The Clone Wars was pretty much his
universe ,” Chee said. “He didn’t really have that much concern for what we
were doing in the books and games. So the Expanded Universe was very much
separate."
~ Leland Chee, 2018 – SYFY WIRE Interview
..
“Lucas’ canon – and when I say ‘his canon’, I’m talking about what he was
doing in the films and what he was doing in The Clone Wars – was hugely
important. But what we were doing in the books really wasn’t on his radar.”
~ Leland Chee, 2018 – SYFY WIRE Interview
..
"What George Saw as Canon"
*"In the old days, George Lucas saw his universe as separate from publishing [EU]. He wasn't at all
interested in connecting."*
~ Pablo Hidalgo [Lucasfilm Story Group] 2016
http://i.imgur.com/6ZOkAau.png
——————
*Pablo Hidalgo on Lucas and the EU being separate Universes.*
https://i.redd.it/3fpbkocr43q01.png
*"He [Lucas] only considers his movies and TV projects as his universe, and told the Clone Wars writers
to only worry about those."*
-Pablo Hidalgo [Lucasfilm Story Group]
'How involved was he [Lucas] for stories in other media?'
'Not Very'
'That's how I always felt and why I never read much of the EU. If it wasn't from George, it didn't hold
much water for me'
'He held the same opinion =)
———————-
*"Some just don't want to hear it. Canon is only what's on the screen. – Episodes I-VI, TCW and what's to
come."*
Pablo Hidalgo, 2013 –
https://ibb.co/S0fYM7q
———-
"From Star Wars Insider [The Official Star Wars Magazine] – Issue 77 , Using Dark Empire & The Thrawn
Trilogy As Examples. – https://ibb.co/K9PMgH3
*
"So do episodes beyond Return of the Jedi exist? Nothing beyond possible story points and ideas,
certainly not fleshed out story treatments or scripts. Fans often wonder if Dark Empire or the Thrawn
Trilogy were based off those notes or are meant to be Episodes VII, VIII, IX. – That's not the case.
Those works are the creation of their respective authors with the guidance of editors at Lucas Licensing.
They are not, nor ever were, meant to be George Lucas' definitive vision of what happens next"*
~ Pablo Hidalgo, 2004 – https://ibb.co/K9PMgH3
——————
"But Lucas allows for an Expanded Universe that exists parallel to the one he directly oversees. […]
*Though these [Expanded Universe] stories may get his stamp of approval, they don’t enter his canon
unless they are depicted cinematically in one of his projects.”*
~ Pablo Hidalgo, Star Wars: The Essential Reader’s Companion, 2012