Despite some small reservations, I think Kathleen Kennedy has made a very sensible choice. There are a lot of other exciting possible directors out there, but Kennedy doesn't want exciting right now. She wants dependable. She wants someone who can get the film to the finish line on time. Abrams has proven he can do this.
Reportedly, Rian Johnson was asked, but he turned it down, probably because he isn't finished with one Star Wars film, so he can't take on the burden of another one just yet. Again, that seems wise.
While originally I was against Lucasfilm moving the dates of the Star Wars films from May to December (strictly for tradition's sake), I think it's smart to move Ep. IX back to December. I'd rather see a Star Wars film done right than done quickly. And frankly, I think it's a bad idea to have a Star Wars movie so close to an Avengers movie. I wouldn't put Han Solo so close to Infinity War, and I think it's good not to have the final episodic Star Wars film next to (likely) the final film in the original Avengers saga.*
My wife was very excited, because she's a huge fan of
Lost and
Alias, and
Super 8 is one of her favorite movies of all time. So her enthusiasm has rubbed off on me a bit, too.
The only thing that remains worrisome is that Chris Terrio has been brought on to co-write the script, after delivering
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, a pariah to critics and audiences. But then, Abrams reportedly wrote a terrible Superman script in the early 2000s, and I like most of what he does, so I'm trying to keep an open mind.
* I don't doubt there will be New Avengers and plenty of other MCU films with crossovers, though.