A lil' bit complicated.
There isn't even a mention of the movies' novelizations.
Yet they keep the EU, but it all becomes shoved into the Legends group, apparently non-canon.
The announcement also reveals that the first book in the new canon will be Star Wars: A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller. This book will be set before Star Wars Rebels and provide "insight into a key character's backstory, with input directly from executive producers Dave Filoni, Simon Kinberg, and Greg Weisman." Filoni will also write the book's foreword.
"First book in the new canon"?
Is it
in the canon or did they mean something like "the new book alongside the new canon", or "in this new way of handling the canon"?
It's still an Expanded Universe book, although now we shall say a Legends book.
That said, saying that the new book will "provide insight into a key character's backstory", it sounds like it's still relevant, like in the old days wherein many characters and random details in the movies were fleshed out in the books.
I guess they still have to update their usual PR salesman pitch, because if the book is outside the canon, it's not really any valuable "insight" anymore, is it?
They'll still have the same problem in selling those books while knowing it's not part of a story. At this point, the "canon" imprimatur lost by the EU means these official books rank barely above fanon.
It seems the article's author has also slightly rearranged the meaning of the original announcement. Below, an extract from said original statement:
While Lucasfilm always strived to keep the stories created for the EU consistent with our film and television content as well as internally consistent, Lucas always made it clear that he was not beholden to the EU. He set the films he created as the canon. This includes the six Star Wars episodes, and the many hours of content he developed and produced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. These stories are the immovable objects of Star Wars history, the characters and events to which all other tales must align.
Basically, acknowledging the dual canon issue, and pointing out what the canon was
according to Lucas.
There is, however, no mention in the current announcement that the new canon excises the EU.
None.
Now, with an exciting future filled with new cinematic installments of Star Wars, all aspects of Star Wars storytelling moving forward will be connected. Under Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy's direction, the company for the first time ever has formed a story group to oversee and coordinate all Star Wars creative development.
"We have an unprecedented slate of new Star Wars entertainment on the horizon," said Kennedy. "We're set to bring Star Wars back to the big screen, and continue the adventure through games, books, comics, and new formats that are just emerging. This future of interconnected storytelling will allow fans to explore this galaxy in deeper ways than ever before."
And read below:
On the screen, the first new canon to appear will be Star Wars Rebels. In print, the first new books to come from this creative collaboration include novels from Del Rey Books. First to be announced, John Jackson Miller is writing a novel that precedes the events of Star Wars Rebels and offers insight into a key character's backstory, with input directly from executive producers Dave Filoni, Simon Kinberg, and Greg Weisman.
It almost sounds like there can be varying forms of canon. Screen, print, etc.
It turns out that the fans in the comments are reacting to what the article's author rewrote, not what the announcement means.