Bail Organa Arrives in ‘Andor’ with a New Actor
This week’s episodes of Andor brought back Bail Organa, the legendary Alderaan senator, in the guise of Benjamin Bratt.
Apr 30, 2025
Lucasfilm/Youtini Illustration
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What we know:
Bail Organa made his Andor premiere in Season 2, Episode 6, where he had a brief conversation with Mon Mothma
Organa was played by Benjamin Bratt who took over the role after Jimmy Smits was unable to accommodate the shooting schedule
Creator Tony Gilroy said that the team tried repeatedly to get Smits on set, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t possible for the schedules to match up
Lucasfilm
Deeper dive:
Previously, Bail was played by Jimmy Smits in Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, Rogue One, and Obi-Wan Kenobi
When Smits was confirmed to be unavailable, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy had the idea to call Bratt to offer him the role
Gilroy explained that the brief cameo was meant to introduce Bratt in an “arbitrary way” to get the audience used to the idea of him playing Bail
By employing this method of introduction, Gilroy hoped to get the recasting discussion out of the way before Organa returns for the next set of episodes and Bratt can “come back to really work”
Lucasfilm
Andor is now streaming on Disney+ with 3 new episodes set to release on Tuesday, May 6th!
Eric Eilersen is a Senior Writer at Youtini and co-host of The Youtini Show. He loves collecting Star Wars Funkos, lightsabers, and LEGO as well as playing video games, reading Brandon Sanderson novels, watching the Dallas Cowboys, and spending time with his partner and pets. You can follow him at @EricEilersen.
