Does a hyperspace barrier still hinder travel to the Unknown Regions in the new canon?

Question

According to Wookiepedia regarding E.U./Legends, travel to and from the Unknown Regions is hindered by a hyperspace barrier (sometimes called "the tangle").

Being that Starkiller Base is in the Unknown Regions according to The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary and both the Millennium Falcon and Poe Dameron's Resistance squadron are able to successfully navigate it, does this hyperspace barrier still exist in the new canon?

If not, is there a reason given as to why the Unknown Regions haven't been explored yet?

Answer 1

Your question is somewhat based on a false premise regarding the Unknown Regions.

In Legends, there is considerable evidence that the unknown regions were... simply unexplored, rather than blocked. Grand Admiral Thrawn spent considerable effort/time exploring them and was in fact exiled there by the Chiss.

The book Outbook Flight even includes a smuggler ship jumping there blindly and encountering Thrawn, which is in Legends the explanation of how Thrawn knew basic.

This "hyperspace barrier" is not really something that exists in Legends/EU (though often there are references to the complexity of charting the Unknown Regions - perhaps this is what you are referring to?).

It is likely that for TFA this backstory was not incorporated and instead the Unknown Regions are simply uncharted space outside the jurisdiction of either the Empire or Republic.