RogueLeader!
Good to hear from you! Yes, I will be sticking around for episode IX. I really have no idea what will happen, as The Last Jedi didn’t leave me with much to anticipate for the next film other than another confrontation between Rey and Kylo-Ren. So it’s kind of a blank slate for me, which is exciting.
About phasma, she does seem pretty tightly tied into the execution scene. I don’t think you could easily remove those chunks from the build-up to Holdo’s light-speed attack, especially with the climactic music. Although some edits, like Forceghostrecon’s, have completely removed phasma AND the Finn/Rose sideplot entirely. I’d like to see that just to know how the music and pacing can work without phasma, Finn, or Rose and just intercutting between Rey/Kylo and Holdo.