I still remember George's words during that scene on the '04 RotJ dvd commentary, and they were something along the lines of "Y'know, if I'd known he would become such a beloved character I never would've killed him off. Most people think he never really died anyway."
That last part is probably a reference to Dark Empire (which we know George read at one point) and maybe the other post-Jedi EU he appears in, although the "most people" qualifier seems to drive home George's own opinion of the EU which he's shared elsewhere in interviews.