Lucas obviously didn't get as good a deal as Jobs did when he sold Pixar I guess. Jobs sold Pixar for $10m and got a massive amount of shares in Disney which are now worth roughly £4bn and a place on the board. Poor Lucas.
In all seriousness though, I think ep 7,8 and 9 will **** all over the EU in the same way that the Clone Wars show did with the Republic Commando novels. I can't see them using the original characters at all either, Ford, Hamill and Fisher are all ancient now and I doubt they'd have an inclination to take up their former roles again. This pretty much rules out the Thrawn Trilogy and anything prior to the Legacy era of the EU (Cade Skywalker etc.).
If they do something in the timeline where Luka, Leia and Han are still alive, I'm pretty sure they'll concentrate on completely new characters and just give reference to the originals for continuity. Even if they concentrated on the Solo kids, they'd have a tough time not including Han, Leia and Luke in the films as their stories are so heavily intertwined. Interesting times nonetheless, and I'm very very much looking forward to 2015.
Edit: As to the gents above discussing NJO, I'm sure this is the first positive feedback I've heard about NJO from anyone other than myself! I loved that series, warts and all. The Star Wars universe has never seemed so brutal as it was in that era... I'd honestly love to see it in film, I just can't see it happening without Luke et al.![]()
I think Lucas has enough money as it is, and he created Pixar so we should thank him over and above Steve Jobs anyway.