The idea that Rian was purposefully going against fan expectations is weird and doesn’t even hold any weight considering he wrote the script (and even filmed some of the movie) before TFA was even finished.

I don’t see a problem with not mapping out the trilogy before hand. This is a legitimate way to make a trilogy (and maybe even a better way). Each movie is given its own priority (instead of merely setting up the next). This was part of the reason why they wanted different directors on each, so you’d be assured each film would go for broke.