Alternatively, EA could take the opposite approach and return him in 2 months. That way, players that were expecting 3 months might be caught off-guard and not finished yet, because they were farming at a more leisurely rate...
This might get more players to spend money on the 2nd round of panic farming.
My recommendation - farm the characters ASAP. Buy 3 Regular Energy refreshes, every day and refresh the Zaalbar, Bastila, and Jolee nodes once per day. That will use all your regular energy. Buy as many cantina energy refreshes as you can (up to 3 anyway).
Focus on T3 in cantina first. If you end up being a bit short and having to buy some shards via crystals, farming T3 and buying Mission with crystals ends up being more cost-effective than the other way around.