It’s easier to blend the two sources together by using a blend of DNR and film grain overlays. The uniformity of the resultant image texture makes the film more immersive, and the eye is less inclined to spot the seams where sources change and change back again. This exact same method was used for the Oohteedee versions, and will be used for the Harmy 3.0s coming soon, too. IIRC he used the same method on the 2.0 versions? I might have that wrong.
It’s not a matter of “SCREW DNR, IN FACT, LET’S ADD SOME DIRT,” it’s a matter of recognizing the pluses and minuses inherent to the source and using the tools at hand to make the most cohesive final product. Even in DNR’d versions of the OT, there’s still film grain present and visible, which makes sense because those movies were shot on film and grain is inherent to that format.
There are probably blu-rays on your shelf right now–blu-rays you think are amazing–that also, after doing a DNR pass or 2 (or 5) add a low-opacity grain overlay to the image. It’s not a weird, fetishistic film-fanatic-only move. It’s done quite a bit both professionally AND in the scrappier realm of amateur film-restoration.
FWIW, the grain plate added to this version is very subtle. It’s not like they filmed a swarm of mosquitoes and hit the clone tool and then just glued it to the blu-ray footage. It’s a very fine grain, I believe matched as closely as possible to a DNR’d version of 4k83 (which still has visible film grain in it) and laid over the UHD source. I’m sure they could speak to how they did it much more clearly (and authoritatively) than I could, but I think that’s what happened. (edit: while I was typing that, that’s EXACTLY what happened, LOL).
It’s not my preferred ROTJ restoration, but the image quality (detail, resolution) is not one of the things I’d fault for that at all: The job they did in blending the footage together - including their use of a grain overlay to match the sources - is pretty great. And I bet if you’d actually WATCHED this version instead of just reading about it, you’d likely have agreed.