‘Andor' creator reveals why they recast major ‘Star Wars' character in Season 2
There's a new Senator Bail Organa in the galaxy.
The role of Princess Leia's adoptive father was recast in the second season of the hit 'Star Wars' series 'Andor.'
Benjamin Bratt officially stepped into the role in place of Jimmy Smits in the sixth episode that premiered on Disney+ Tuesday.
9 Jimmy Smits as Senator Bail Organa in 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' (2016).
©Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection
9 Benjamin Bratt as Senator Bail Organa in 'Andor' Season 2.
Disney
Creator Tony Gilroy told Entertainment Weekly that they failed to get Smits, 69, to return as Bail.
'We couldn't work it out,' said Gilroy, 68. 'The scheduling didn't work out. We really tried hard, but he wasn't available and couldn't make it.'
9 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 continued. '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.'
9 Jimmy Smits as Bail Organa in 'Star Wars: Attack of the Clones' (2002).
Smits was busy shooting 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 played 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.
9 Jimmy Smits in 'Obi-Wan Kenobi.'
©Disney+/Courtesy Everett Collection
9 Yoda, Ewan McGregor, Jimmy Smits in 'Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith' (2005).
©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection
Gilroy told EW that LucasFilm president Kathleen Kennedy came up with the idea to cast 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,' said Gilroy.
9 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 brief appearance 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 continued. '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.'
9 Diego Luna in 'Andor' Season 2.
Des Willie /Lucasfilm Ltd.
9 Genevieve O'Reilly as Mon Mothma, Ben Miles as Tay Kolma in 'Andor' Season 2.
AP
'Andor' stars Diego Luna as Cassian Andor in his journey from thief to rebel spy.
The series is set several years before the events 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. EST on Disney+.
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