This story, of a failed evacuation, could never have been told easily in the old litverse. If Romulus' Typhon Pact allies had been willing to supply it with food during the period of Romulan division, then it is difficult to imagine them not helping with an evacuation. More, with Praetor Kamemor's policy of detente with the Federation, it is difficult to imagine the Federation not having gotten involved at an early date.
Beyond this, the regime of Gell Kamemor seems by all accounts to be stable, reasonably popular, and open to at least some domestic criticism. It would surely be challenged, but what we see of her regime suggests that it would have been well-equipped to deal with an unprecedented challenge.
This is not what we have here. Romulus' government is not nearly as liberal and functional, and there is no one else able to step in where the Federation cannot. To get Picard to where he is at the start of his show, you would have needed a very different starting point from what the litverse would have provided.
