Why ‘Andor’ recast Bail Organa with Benjamin Bratt…
There’s a new Senator Bail Organa in the galaxy.
The position of Princess Leia’s adoptive father was recast in the second season of the hit Star Wars collection “Andor.”
Benjamin Bratt formally stepped into the position in place of Jimmy Smits in the sixth episode that premiered on Disney+ Tuesday.
Jimmy Smits as Senator Bail Organa in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (2016). ©Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection
Benjamin Bratt as Senator Bail Organa in “Andor” Season 2. Disney
Creator Tony Gilroy instructed Entertainment Weekly that they failed to get Smits, 69, to return as Bail.
“We couldn’t work it out,” stated Gilroy, 68. “The scheduling didn’t work out. We really tried hard, but he wasn’t available and couldn’t make it.”
Tony Gilroy poses for a portrait to promote “Andor” on April 15 in Los Angeles. Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP
“Bringing back legacy characters is really complicated,” the filmmaker added. “It’s very expensive. It’s very, who’s working when. A lot of effort went into it, but we just couldn’t work it out scheduling wise.”
Gilroy added to ScreenRant, “It’s really hard to bring legacy characters back for a whole variety of reasons. Money and scheduling and I mean, he [Smits] just wasn’t available. It didn’t work out.”
“He was doing his other show and we were under the gun and they couldn’t work it out. They just couldn’t work it out. Believe me, we really tried, but it couldn’t happen,” Gilroy stated.
Jimmy Smits as Bail Organa in “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones” (2002).
Smits was busy taking pictures his CBS show “East New York” during the filming of “Andor” Season 2.
The actor made his debut in the Star Wars franchise in “Episode II: Attack of the Clones” (2002). He performed Bail again in “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” (2005), “Rogue One” (2016) and the Disney+ miniseries “Obi-Wan Kenobi” (2022).
Bail was first referenced in “Episode IV: A New Hope” (1977), in which he’s killed when the Death Star blows up his home planet Alderaan.
Jimmy Smits in 2022 TV miniseries “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” ©Disney+/Courtesy Everett Collection
Yoda, Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jimmy Smits as Senator Bail Organa in “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” (2005). ©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection
Gilroy instructed EW that LucasFilm president Kathleen Kennedy got here up with the concept to solid Bratt, 61, as the senator.
“It was just a brilliant idea. He’s a wonderful human being and really eager and beloved on set and really happy about what he does,” stated Gilroy.
Benjamin Bratt at a screening of “Millers in Marriage” in NYC on Feb. 20. Getty Images
The Oscar-nominated director also shared that Bratt’s temporary look in Episode 6 of “Andor” Season 2 was “so people will get the conversation out of the way until the next week when he really starts to work.”
“It’s one of those situations where I want to do something simple,” Gilroy stated. “We don’t do many things that are unnecessary, but it’s like, ‘Let’s get him in here now so people can discuss it for a week and get it out of their system and then he can come back to really work.’ I didn’t want the guy’s work to be confused with his introduction.”
Diego Luna in “Andor” Season 2. Des Willie /Lucasfilm Ltd.
Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma and Ben Miles as Tay Kolma in “Andor” Season 2. AP
“Andor” stars Diego Luna as Cassian Andor in his journey from thief to insurgent spy.
The collection is set a number of years before the occasions of “Rogue One,” which explains how the Rebellion steal the plans to the Death Star which they destroy in “A New Hope.”
New episodes of “Andor” Season 2 come out Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Disney+.
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