I think the main times I ever argue to remove local variables, it occurs when they're being run together into a data-structure which would be easier to see at-a-glance, ex:

    header = {"name": "Unknown"}
    body = {"items": []}
    footer = {"page": 0} 
    
    placeholder = {
        "header": header
        "body": body
        "footer": footer
    }

    return(placeholder)