Bail Organa, the adoptive father of Princess Leia, makes a brief appearance in Andor Season 2 Episode 6. However, the actor portraying the character is Benjamin Bratt and not Jimmy Smits, who previously essayed the role in several entries in the Star Wars franchise, including Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), the movie to which Andor is the prequel. Series creator and showrunner Tony Gilroy has explained the reason behind the recast in multiple interviews.

There is a brief scene halfway into the Andor Season 2 episode in which Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) and her husband, Perrin (Alastair Mackenzie), are heading to a party when they encounter Benjamin Bratt’s Bail Organa.

The series ensures the audience knows this is supposed to be Bail through the interaction between the three characters. In an interview with ScreenRant, Tony Gilroy said that they had to recast the role and replace Smits with Bratt due to a scheduling conflict.

“It’s really hard to bring legacy characters back for a whole variety of reasons. Money and scheduling and I mean, he [Jimmy Smits] just wasn’t available,” Gilroy told the outlet. “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 made a similar statement to Entertainment Weekly, in which he also underscored an issue in scheduling.

Senator Bail Organa was first mentioned in the Star Wars franchise in 1977’s Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Bail and the rest of the population of Alderaan were obliterated by the Galactic Empire using the Death Star.

Smits portrayed the character for the first time in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002). He reprised the role in Rogue One, the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022). and the video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (2008). Notably, Phil LaMarr voiced the character in animated shows Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi.