Yeah, it's not so much that there's an affinity toward Force usage in certain families or individuals that rankled, as that it was pinned down to some sort of medically detectable component in the body (Lucas' background explanation was even more weird). The lack of midi-chlorian discussion in the later (earlier) movies can be worked around, but dealing with the Force in a more metaphysical / psychic sense is a much better approach.
(h/t +Les Jenkins)
The Force Awakens Midi-Chlorians Won’t Be Acknowledged
In Star Wars: The Force Awakens midi-chlorians won’t be acknowledged. That’s what J.J. Abrams said in a recent quick interview with MTV. Watch it now!
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Add to that the issue that if they could be detected, they could be transferred…
As much as this will get the internet going, at the time the prequals where made everything that had the star wars name was concederd to be canon some how. During that time you have to look at beyond the movies, to the yazenvong, who are force immune, given the information having it stated in the prequals that it's a micro-biology, that provides the force, could in theory make some since. Just something to think about.
And yes that is no longer canon but legends, it may have been put there for a possible future use since it is only stated once in episode 1. (Go ahead star wars internet fandom have your feild day)
The biology thing makes sense if the entirety of the Yuzon Vong series is read.
I'm not saying that it doesn't make sense (anything can be made sense). It just doesn't make good story.
And while I realize the extended universe books were (at least at the time) considered canon, falling back on them to make the actual movies resonate well doesn't help much. 🙂
They weren't mentioned in Episode II or III, either, so I'm not sure their absence is some sort of herald of quality. But, I think it was a stupid idea, so I'm all for it being gone.