Disney, in their move to make as much profit as possible (:P have declared all of anthing non-canon. Anything not in the movies, The Clone Wars Tv Show/Movie, Rebels and a few specific materials released since then doesn't count. No Yuzhan Vong, no Battlefront, not much else. The Clone Wars retconned most, if not all of the Clones being retired after Episode III. The internet has a more complex list, if you need one. I think one of the few things still canon is that Boba Fett survived the Sarlacc pit, but I don't have a source for that.

That sucks Disney flat out slapped all Star Wars EU out. I hope they at least throw in some nods with character designs and whatnot, kinda like how the new Gundam movies/OVAs throw in some Expanded Universe suits in the background.

I guess it's a controversial issue, but I personally feel it was the right thing to do, to declare everything sans direct Lucasfilm productions non-canon. In particular, having the post-ROTJ EU constrain the story of future movies will make it very difficult for storytelling.

I also feel that a lot of the EU is just too convoluted and their stories are difficult to reconcile with each other. In particular, it took me a number of years to accept the Yuuzhan Vong, and it's still a pain to work out what happened in the Old Republic era, when trying to reconcile the Bioware stuff with the earlier comics. Inconsistent ideas about how the Force works, conflicting histories, and the differing portrayal of the factions present make things extremely difficult to follow.

In the past, Lucasfilm avoided this problem by declaring the prequel era off limits (until the movies were produced) and to lay off the post-Episode III and pre-Episode IV period (with exceptions like The Force Unleashed). This meant the story they wanted to tell was untouched. But now, when creating a direct sequel to Jedi, they are faced with a timeline that has been densely, even if messily, packed with stories. There is no room to tell a story without destroying it wholesale.

I guess in the end it depends on how much you like the EU. I like lots of parts of it, but I dislike enough parts to be willing to compromise the ones I do like. So, purely in my opinion, I think getting rid of the canonicity of the EU was a good idea. Remember, the EU was never fully canon anyway, it was always "canon unless contradicted by Lucasfilm productions, which take precedence". Therefore one could argue this was simply an extension of the earlier policy.

Yes. I am aware of that. I was curious to see where the clone confirmation was in the teaser. Was it in the VO, because John Boyega doesn't resemble Temuera Morrison to my eyes. I had the audio quite low and may have missed it.

And while I don't imagine some profit motivation was involved, there are a lot of people who would collect royalties from EU stuff appearing, I think a big portion of it was to free themselves creatively from more than twenty years of tangled continuity created since Heir to the Empire was published in '91. Also, everything ComicGuy said. :D

Edit: Sorry, I didn't mean to sound so confrontational. I'm not even halfway through family holiday drama weekend and the stress of it all is making me super cranky.

I wish Disney would adopt the Sunrise stance on expanded works, where everything in the Movies/Clone Wars/Rebels is canon and everything during that time period that contradicts it is not canon. But anything that doesn't interfere is canon if you want it to be. Or it is adapted.

But with that approach, you get dumb shit like 7 RX-78 Gundams running around during the One Year War. I could not imagine the stupidity that could breed from this type of approach. "Hey guys, there were actually 3 Vaders running around!"

So I guess this method works?

That was Lucasfilm's old stance, where everything was canon unless contradicted by the movies or TV shows. But yes, that made things very difficult and the task is left to places like Wookieepedia to sort out the mess and figure out what is what.

My opinion is they should adopt the Star Trek route, where NOTHING but the movies and TV shows are canon. But now they've done something in between, everything onwards from now is canon, including books, games, comics, etc.

Well, if everything is non-canon, that kinda lets them be able to pluck out non-canon stories, redux them and make them canon again. Like, pull out the Rise of the Empire storyline from Battlefront II and declare it canon if they wanted and to make particular ideas canon, like the Clone Uprising or the Empire preventing a new Droid army.

That's right, it'll be like in the Doctor Who canon, or in the past where Lucas picks certain things to be canonised, like the name "Coruscant", Aayla Secura, Quinlan Vos, etc.

Already we have seen the Rebels TV show adopt the EU's lightsaber combat disciplines (Form I to Form VII) as the Inquisitor is familiar with them. I would never have imagined they'd bother. :lol

Is the Force Unleashed Games canon?

Not in the new canon. Like all games before the new canon was established, it is now under the "Legends" banner.