Major Jimmy Smits Role Recast After He Played the Character for Decades

Fans of Star Wars were in for a shock after the sixth episode of Andor season two.

The wildly popular Disney+ series, which is probably the first Star Wars property you can attach the words “critically acclaimed” to in several years, recast a character played by Jimmy Smits that was created all the way back in 1977.

Princess Leia’s adoptive father, Bail Organa, was referenced but not shown in the very first Star Wars movie, A New Hope, when Leia was forced to watch Organa (and everyone else on the planet Alderaan) get blown up by the Death Star. In the second prequel film, Attack of the Clones, audiences finally met Senator Organa when NYPD Blue actor Jimmy Smits appeared on-screen.

Smits continued to play the role in several further Star Wars properties, including the subsequent prequel film Revenge of the Sith, the video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and 2022 streaming series Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Most notably, Smits also played the role in the 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which was written by Andor creator Tony Gilroy. So you’d think Gilroy would bring him back for any subsequent appearances of the character… except when Genevieve O’Reilly’s character Mon Mothma says hello to Organa, he’s now played by Law & Order star Benjamin Bratt. What gives?

According to Gilroy, it all came down to a scheduling conflict.

“We couldn’t work it out,” Gilroy told Entertainment Weekly. “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.”

Both seasons of Andor are streaming now on Disney+.