On the other hand, you would have to cut a not-insignificant amount of runtime to cut all of Sidious’ scenes. He has quite a few with Nute Gunray in TPM, but only one in AOTC (but his one scene is important because it reveals Dooku’s Sith name, which helps add clarity to the cloning mystery) and one in ROTS with Grievous.

My solution to this has always been to simply replace Sidious with Tyrannus in most of TPM, only leaving his conversation with Maul, whom Tyrannus does not refer to as his apprentice when introducing him to the Neimoidian. Until recently that would’ve been a huge hassle but now with AI swapping the voice and face of a hooded figure should be a walk in the park. That said, this does pose the question as to why Dooku would need to hide his identity. Perhaps it’s because he hasn’t yet left the Jedi (he leaves the Order around the time of TPM in both Legends and Canon and I think they allude to it in AotC).