Well, this new Monkey Island series is developed by Telltale Games, which consists of a bunch of former Lucasarts employees. It looks like they're basically trying to bring back all the stuff that the fans love but Lucasarts doesn't seem to give a rat's ass about. In fact, I believe that their Sam and Max series resulted from the fact that the team was working on a Sam and Max sequel for Lucasarts, but Lucasarts canceled the game, so they quit, formed their own team, licensed the rights from Steve Purcell, and made their own games.
TL;DR
Telltale Games = Rebel Alliance
Lucasarts = Empire