As much as I want him to be part of this, I really like what he said. I agree that the show needs to be it's own, and that it needs to focus on a new set of characters and a new storyline. It it had the same characters people would constantly be comparing the two and they'd be disappointed.
With that said, I'm open to the idea of past characters popping up every so often. And I'm glad he's open to the idea of that too