“As in most Star Wars movies it was George Lucas’ idea to kill Mace Windu.
It seems like if Samuel L. Jackson had his way, that might involve his Jedi character Mace Windu at some point.
Next up for Disney on the Star Wars side of things is Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which comes out in December and Episode VIII is due out next year.
Jackson has previously expressed interest in reprising his role as Mace Windu, and he has some fairly solid reasoning within the confines of Star Wars logic that lend enough credibility to the idea that his character could definitely be alive.