Bingowings said:

Focusing on a core group of characters isn't universe shrinkage.

Falstaff appearing across a group of plays doesn't make Shakespeare's oeuvre smaller. It's enriching it with detail over brevity.

It is 100% fan service but fan service can be done well it doesn't have to be to the general PT level of naffness.

Adding new characters however is universe enlargement.

Very salient points.

And, lest anyone forget, Boba Fett's very creation as a character was a kind of fan service... His appearance in the Holiday Special was, in essence, a fan service two years ahead of his first proper film appearance. What I'm hoping for in his possible inclusion in TFA, and his possible portrayal by an actor of such gravitas as Max Von Sydow, is to finally see some substantive incorporation of the character into the Saga; to justify the hype machine created around him that's nearly as old as the franchise itself. That'd be the very opposite of mere fan service. To me, fan service is Han Solo saying "I always shoot first" or some such stupid (but hopefully not inevitable) thing.

There's room in this Saga to give this pivotal character a decent sendoff to make up for the disgraceful one he was given 32 years ago. There are more than enough new characters and worlds in this film to allay any fears of "universe shrinkage," in my estimation.