Considering Palpatine didn’t need to return in the first place
“The basic premise of the entire movie should have been different” is a different conversation entirely, and a pretty pointless one considering the deed has been done (unless you’re somehow planning a completely Palpatine-less edit, which Hal is not).
Full context of the quote was refuting the “need” to avoid Palpatine having a child after they decided Palpatine needed a child. Palpatine didn’t need to be the villain, Rey didn’t need to be related to him, Palpatine didn’t need to have a discarded-but-living clone that’s also Rey’s father, etc.