CP3S said:

TK's point was that Chewie is with Leia at the beginning of ROTJ, so it doesn't necessarily stand that every player has to have been in the same place they were left at the end of the previous film.

Even if you disregard the EU Shadows of the Empire, the search for Han was suppose to have taken some time and any number of things could have happened between films...

I've always been under the impression that an indeterminate amount of time had lapsed between the movies. I'd always imagined the Rebel Alliance hopping from planet to planet before finally settling on Hoth. Luke looks so much older and wiser in RotJ, I imagine all of the training and experiences he's gone through until that point.

And obviously the Death Star took some time to rebuild. Even in its unfinished looking state, it is "fully operational".