I spotted in Faraday’s TROS novelisation thread something worth considering here:
In the original draft of ROTJ, the forest moon of Endor was orbiting Coruscant as a kind of nature sanctuary, hence the ‘sanctuary moon’. I wonder if there’s a value add by revisiting that idea, which you could potentially achieve via the crawl, some C-3PO dialogue, and VFX to add the planet in the background.
Pros would be that it’d bring the climax nearer to the heart of the galaxy, increase the jeopardy, contrast Coruscant’s industrialisation with Endor’s nature, and add some nice options for visuals and alternate options regarding the location of the Emperor’s throne room and the way the SSD/DS2 are destroyed.
Cons would be that it might bring the fleet strengths into question (you’d expect a lot more defence above Coruscant, and a more likely pincer trap), and it might conflict with other movies which feature Coruscant or the DS2 wreckage.
I think the credibility cons outweigh the pros for this, but I could be wrong.
I don’t buy (1) the Empire building the DSII in such plain sight and (2) nobody taking a shot at it sooner. BUT if they had been building it somewhere in secrecy and it’s now finished enough to be moved to Endor over Coruscant (like Yavin IV with red Yavin in the background somewhere) for some kind of dedication ceremony that Palpatine is planning as a cover story for drawing out the Rebel forces? That idea I would buy much easier.