I firmly believe that the best and most viable path for the new Star Wars film trilogy is to follow the offspring of the Skywalkers and Solos. This now seems like a possibility after comments made by Hollywood columnist Roger Friedman on Showbiz 411 February 15th (sorry, we just noticed this ourselves) declared that;
"Star Wars: Episode VII will be set "some time in the future . Han, Princess Leia , and Luke Skywalker will be a lot older. Their children will be the new main characters. R2D2 and C-3PO will be unchanged, I would guess. since they are not human. But suffice to say, the three main actors are definitely coming back. The bigger question is, which young actors will play their kids?"
Think of the wealth of material from the Expanded Universe that this move would allow to be used for these and future movie adaptations. Everything from the establishment of the Jedi Academy on Yavin-4 all the way to the Darth Cadeus tragedy; nothing would now be off the table. We already have Harrison Ford seemingly confirmed for the 2015 release, reprising Han Solo and Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher's return seems imminent. Although this all could be shot down if Disney and director J.J. Abrams decide to avoid the SWEU material and invent a new lineage to follow...