Canon was only enforced as long as Lucas was in charge. Without him at the helm we now have Disney accounts execs overseeing with their focus groups and statistics who will sell their souls to make a buck.
"According to our survey, if we want to get 18-35 year old women in the cinema, they want to see a strong, confident, independent heroine."
"Oooo, that's good, we'll put one in."
"Women who've had hard pasts always track well. What do you think? Orphan or personal tragedy?"
"Hmmm, we'll revisit that. There may not be room after the ball room dance segment for the 35 - 55 females."
"They'll want a good romance too. Romeo and Juliet type relationships always skew positive."
"Mmmmm, I'm loving that."
"14-18 year old males love fighters in space. You know, pew-pew"
"Great, we have time for two of those if we keep them short. What about the tweens? What are they into today?"
"The usual, My Little Pony, texting, selfies, unicorns, ..."
"Unicorns! Let's get creature effects onto that. Will look good on the lunch pails. Can we work in texting in some way? AT&T would pay through the nose to get some product placement."
"Will talk to props. Now, 18-35 year old men are likely to want more in-depth dialog about the force, mysticism,etc. You know, cheap Buddhist knockoff stuff like the Matrix."
"We'll get the writers on it, but keep it short. We still need time for the big lightsaber battle."
"No, we cut that remember. The special effects budget was slashed. Now it's the female leads discussing their feelings for twenty-five minutes."
"So that only leaves the 55 plus year old bracket unchecked."
"What's Angela Lansbury doing right now?"