In case your office is slow and you need something to read, here’s a long Wired piece about the Star Wars paracosm (new word!) and how that lends itself to longevity and spin offs. It also gets deep, talking to screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan:
…besides Lucas, perhaps no person has done more to define Star Wars [than Kasdan]. So it’s a little ironic that the line he says is his favorite of everything he’s written comes instead from his screenplay for Raiders [of the Lost Ark]: I’m making this up as I go.
“For you and me, we’re making it up. Here’s how I’m going to behave, here’s what I’m willing to do to make a living, here’s what I’m not willing to do. How we make up our lives as we go,” Kasdan says. “That’s such a powerful idea. It’s exciting. The biggest adventure you can have is making up your own life.”