I don’t see much reason for restoring the 97 SE. The fact that they never made it to DVD means very few people truly “grew up with them”, and I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the folks who prefer the SE don’t care or even realize that the 97 cut is different. It’s an interesting curiosity for obsessive completists like many of the denizens of this site as a sort of transitional specimen between the Star Wars that was and the Star Wars that is, but if you’re not one of the relative few who are really interested in the evolution of the film, I’m betting you want either the theatrical cuts or else the canonical ones.

NOTE: None of this is to say I wouldn’t like to see the 97 included in some kind of ultimate comprehensive box set. Sure, if they’re doing it anyway I’ll take it. It’s just extremely low on my list of priorities. Hell, I think I’d prefer it if they fixed some of the CGI in the SE rather than reverting it to an earlier version. As long as we get the OUT, I’m fine with and even curious about potential new iterations of the SE.