It sounds like Filoni kind of mourns the EU to a certain extent, but maybe I’m just reading something into his statement that isn’t there. I get the sense he appreciates the EU stories and wants to make a movie that tells some reworked version of one or more EU stories. But I guess he also wants to combine it with his Rebels plot lines.

It’s interesting to reflect on the fact that a live action retelling of most of the early EU stories from the 1990s was not possible for over two decades, since all those stories focus on the original cast who had aged beyond the roles. But now because we’re “living in the future”, those stories can actually be told in live action using deep-fake recreations of the OT cast. It’s certainly uncharted territory. So far, CGI recreations (and later deep-fakes) have been used for minor roles or cameos. But the day will soon come I’m sure when a starring role is entirely a deep-fake. A lot of people find this idea disturbing, but it will inevitably become more and more common as time goes on.