Andor‘s Big Recast Should Be theStar WarsBlueprint

descend intoAndorseason two , we learned the surprising fact that one gravid returning fibre in the season wouldno longer be playedby their legacy actor . This calendar week , we learned incisively who it was — and at a sentence whenStar Warshas found itself on diverging way when it come in to open up up classic characters to new worker , it proved exactly why sometimes that is the good opportunity to provide fresh perspectives and interpretation in the galaxy far , far away .

We learn , of path , inAndorseason two ’s 2nd actthat that bequest human body is none other than Senator Bail Organa , who , after being toy by Jimmy Smits across the prequel moving-picture show and most recentlyObi - Wan Kenobi , is played here by Benjamin Bratt ( voice acting fable Phil LaMarr stepped in forClone WarsandRebels , so it ’s not like this is the first time we ’ve ascertain someone else take on Bail).Andorcreator Tony Gilroy has already conk on the record for the dim-witted understanding for the recast — Smits ’ agenda did n’t align with production on season two , so the recast was out of necessity due to Bail ’s importance to the narrative , rather than out of a conscious decision to substitute Smits .

While it might be a little jarring toStar Warsfans at first , Bratt effortlessly sailing into Bail ’s lineament in the brief moments we converge him talking to Mon Mothma in the events of the season ’s sixth episode , “ What a Festive eve . ” Even if it was n’t a conscious conclusion , the recast comes at a engrossing metre forStar Warsand its approach to legacy characters . As characters ping - pong between animated origins and hot - action launching , as the franchise becomes more and more willing to bestow back actors to re - dwell their legacy roles , Star Warsis always grappling with whether it necessitate to remould or hark back to a conversant face as it dally with these increasingly important characters . Of course , Andoritself has explore this already in some way withGenevieve O’Reilly ’s Mon Mothma , herself paradoxically both a recast ( replacingReturn of the Jedi‘s Caroline Blakiston ) and a returning bequest actor , having played Mon in tailor scenes fromRevenge of the Sithbefore returning inRogue One , Rebels , and eventuallyAndorandAhsoka .

Andor Season 2 Mon Mothma Luthen Perrin

© Lucasfilm

But it is reasonable to say for as much as it has at times recast character , Star Warsas of belated is more and more more interested in convey people back , on the face of it at any cost . Just asRogue Onehas brought back O’Reilly ’s Mon Mothma , it also gave us the first significant digital facsimiles in Grand Moff Tarkin and a young Princess Leia . As much asAhsokawas defined by recast live - action iteration of revivify characters , it is now also a series as such bind toHayden Christensen ’s returnto the role of Anakin Skywalker . In similar ways , The MandalorianandThe Book of Boba Fettwent a step further in convey back a post - yield of theJediLuke Skywalker as an amalgam of Mark Hamill ’s performance , trunk duple Scott Lang , and both outspoken and VFX technology to produce a digital facsimile machine of an era - appropriate Hamill .

In some ways , this school of persuasion is not even needfully about keepingStar Warsstorytelling in the compass of these conversant physical body from the Skywalker saga , but per se keeping specific interpretations of these eccentric as the classical version , no matter what has to be done to sustain that interpretation ’s position . Even set asidethe narrative concernsof it all , wouldThe MandalorianandThe Book of Boba Fettlost anything in casting a new untested role player as Luke Skywalker instead of theseawkward digital homunculuswe got ? WasSoloreally that much of a concern to Lucasfilm that therisk of recastingits most important image was weigh too much once more ?

ButStar Warsstorytelling has likewise similarly thrived when it ’s allowed young interpretation of legacy characters , out of necessity or otherwise , to model along their classic counterparts . After all , without a desire to recast we would n’t have things likeSam Witwer ’s Darth Maul , or Matt Lanter and James Arnold Taylor ’s Anakin and Obi - Wan inClone Wars , version of those characters that are arguably now almost as important as their live - activity progenitors . We would n’t have , as we said , O’Reilly ’s re - imagination of Mon Mothma , or Forest Whitaker ’s evolution of Saw Gererra . Not only did putting faith in these actors to contribute their own tailspin toStar Warsstalwarts make Modern , similarly dear interpretations of those characters , it also trainedStar Warsfans to accept the logistical and storytelling world that multiple versions and interpretations of these characters can , andshould , co - be alongside each other .

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© Lucasfilm

No one ’s brains really soften accepting the fact thatClone Wars ‘ Anakin and Obi - Wan were meant to be the same masses we met inAttack of the ClonesandRevenge of the Sith . Bratt ’s version of Bail Organa might be more of a blow but because we ’ve seen Smits in the role for so long , and so latterly as well , but it is simply part of that same legacy . Sometimes it is dainty to see those familiar faces : but ifStar Warsis to thrive , and get , and sometimes even move beyond those faces , we should always be open to the idea of another sure point of view .

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Andor Season 2 Bail Organa Benjamin Bratt