I’m relieved to hear that Anakin will remain intact, but suprised you’re cutting Yoda. I can understand cutting his presence in the Dooku fight, and when he fights The Senate in the senate, but are you actually proposing removing him from even the council scenes?
As a fan of the ‘wider canon’, which includes Clone Wars and Rebels, Yoda is an important part the stories which precede his appearance in Empire. But even just taking the movies in isolation, his presence in the prequels doesn’t harm the reveal in Empire - that’s still a suprising moment we can experience through Luke, just as the Vader ‘reveal’ that we all already know can still be enjoyed for its impact on Luke.
I had planned on leaving mention of him, but did plan on removing him visually from the movie. I never liked how he didn’t look like the original and didn’t look as old. The fight scenes are definitely getting removed. Acrobatic Yoda was never my thing, but i am sad to see Palpatine going ape sh*t with the senate seats. (Contemplating how to keep it and re-purpose it). So this wouldn’t technically counter EU material, hopefully.
Mace is the head of the council and the main focus of it imo, up to and including his final showdown with Palpatine. Yoda’s inclusion pulls away from this i feel. I like the idea of him being “around” but not on screen, so also to add to his reveal in Ep V for those who don’t read, watch or play the EU. This may not be as easy as im hoping for all scenes though so we’ll see how it turns out or if it’s possible to remove him fully. If i include him, then i have to show him face Palpatine, or there is no good reason for why he didn’t, and why he ran off. With him already being gone, you can assume order 66 went into effect and he never showed his face again.
Only the Purist Cut is so far planned to have him but again, we’ll see how it all goes.