I completely get where you are coming from. I am a HUGE fan of the Timothy Zahn books especially. If they would have simply made the Thrawn Trilogy into movies I would have been thrilled. I actually do think the new team was influenced by several authors including Zahn. Ben turning to the Dark Side may be a shout out to Jacen Solo in the books. I am also impressed to see Thrawn in the Rebels TV show. I think he will make his way into a movie or two before it is all over. And with the universe as huge as it is, I wouldn't be surprised to see some Anderson, Jeter and other authors' ideas worked in. They are going to making these forever. We may all get to see our favorite stories told at some point.

Always happy to converse about different points of view about Star Wars! Thanks for taking the time to share yours.