That and this gives them “unlimited direction in creativity”.
Despite fan consensus that EU canon was better despite the plenty of garbage it accumulated.
Fans want Thrawn and Mara Jade.
The problem with all that canon is there’s so much of it. Just look at what happened to Star Trek, trying to navigate through nearly a thousand hours of canon was strangling the franchise. SW has tens of thousands of pages, it would be crazy. Meanwhile they’ve been bringing stuff back, Thrawn is in canon, and Jade could be. And really nothing they’ve done says the Heir series didn’t happen, it easily could fit in between 6 and 7.