Bingowings:

Why that should end just as the interesting characters succeed in a major victory is genuinely beyond me.

I guess that's where we differ, as my feeling on continuing beyond the end of the Empire is "why should it continue?"

Just because a universe is replete with possibilities doesn't mean I need to see them all. I think the story ends precisely where it should. I refer again Babylon 5. As many of us know, the original Season 5 was squeezed into Season 4 in case the show was cancelled, but as Season 4 was so successful (and rightly so!) Straczynski had to come up with a new story arc for that season. It didn't work. It was "beyond" the organic story arc of that universe. That's precisely how I regard Star Wars. It's done, the story is complete.