They had to kill off Han in part in case Harrison Ford died before they could film VIII. You can’t start off the crawl with, “Han Solo has died in a freak rathtar accident.”
I find your lack of faith in Harrison to live a little longer, disturbing.
Hell, I still expect him to complete another Indy movie to make up for KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL yet! (although it wasn’t his fault, I know)