As I was surfing youtube, stumbled upon "Star Wars I-III: A Phantom Edit" by Andrew Kwan (not sure if he has any connection to the old phantom edit)

click here, if you want to check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhJA7I_8-14

anyway, watching some of his cutting decisions, leaving some things out or making jumps, gave food for thought:

not really a fan of hard cuts, but the idea to switch scenes, like what was an end point, could easy make an opening => kick off Episode 1 or 2 with Dooku meeting Sidious for example, would open some nice possibilities, from where the story can go ...