In general it helps to remember that George Lucas made Star Wars after one of his friends jokingly bet him he couldn’t make something popular (apparently in his early career George had no intention of doing anything more than odd indie films, which is now all he intends to do in retirement).
The franchise was always intended to have a very broad appeal.
Having seen Episode 8 now, I actually appreciate JJ Abram’s style a bit more (less nuanced writing but always cinematically brilliant), but I also understand that this is just another “middle act” in a larger story, it should end up being more enjoyable once we know the ending. Rian Johnson’s position was never enviable (besides the buckets of money he was guaranteed to get no matter what).
Ironically baby boomers are still the largest group of consumers in the world, if Solo turns out well then Disney might start to re-consider the direction of the franchise and who they’re actually marketing toward, if they aren’t already...
Hiring Game of Thrones writers sounds like a good idea, The Old Republic is a good thematic fit (I don’t want Star Wars to go “Hard R” but they could certainly use a dose of serious writing).
This sounds like Disney is cooking up some “must watch” serialized content to compete with Netflix.