In the sixth episode of Andor, "What a Festive Evening," Mon Mothma and her husband, Perrin, bump into a familiar character who now has a new face: Senator Bail Organa.
Bail was played by Jimmy Smits in the Star Wars prequels, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, and later returned in Disney-era projects Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Obi-Wan Kenobi. However, in Andor season 2, Benjamin Bratt (Doctor Strange) takes over as Princess Leia's father.
Entertainment Weekly (via SFFGazette.com) caught up with showrunner Tony Gilroy to discuss his decision to recast the role, and, as expected, it came down to a simple case of logistics.
"We couldn't work it out," he confirmed. "The scheduling didn’t work out. We really tried hard, but he wasn't available and couldn't make it. Bringing back legacy characters is really complicated. 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."
With Smits unavailable to them (and Organa set to appear in multiple episodes beyond this cameo), Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy suggested they enlist Bratt.
"Kathy had the idea for Benjamin. 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," Gilroy said. "I put him in episode 6 in an arbitrary way so people will get the conversation out of the way until the next week when he really starts to work."
He added, "It's one of those situations where I want to do something simple. 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."
The casting change isn't overly distracting, and it sounds like Gilroy had no other choice if there was no way for Smits to fit Andor into his schedule. Moving forward, it's unclear whether he or Bratt would be Lucasfilm's go-to choice for the character on screen.
The second season of Andor takes place as the horizon of war draws near and Cassian becomes a key player in the Rebel Alliance. Everyone will be tested and, as the stakes rise, the betrayals, sacrifices and conflicting agendas will become profound.
Andor sets the clock back five years from the events of Rogue One to tell the story of the film’s hero, Cassian Andor, and his transformation from a disinterested, cynical nobody into a rebel hero on his way to an epic destiny.
You can check out our recap of the latest three episodes of the series by clicking here.