Star Wars major recast slammed by fans: 'don't use him'

Star Wars fans are particularly upset with one of its most recent recasts, especially after hearing the reason that the actor had to be recast in the first place.

Disney has had to recast a lot of actors in Star Wars stuff over the years. Sometimes, it’s because they need an actor to play a younger version of a character, and sometimes actors simply pass away before they can reprise their roles.

The most recent example of a recast is really ticking off the fan base, though, mostly because the reason behind the actor swap merely came down to a scheduling conflict.

A recent episode of the second season of Andor featured a familiar character... with an unfamiliar mug.

Bail Organa, Leia's adopted father and Mon Mothma's husband, was portrayed by actor Jimmy Smits in several live-action Star Wars projects, including Attack of the Clones, Rogue One, and the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi.

However, when Bail Organa reappeared in the second season of Andor, he was instead replaced with actor Benjamin Bratt. Why? Well, I’ll let showrunner and writer Tony Gilroy explain.

Andor season 2 is currently airing on Disney Plus.

“We couldn't work it out," Gilroy revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

“The scheduling didn’t work out. We really tried hard, but he wasn't available and couldn't make it.”

Over on a Twitter post discussing the interview, fans seem especially upset with the explanation.

“Honestly if you couldn’t get him, just literally don’t include the character,” commented user @fantastic580.

“Should have just not included the character if he was unavailable,” replied user @CharlieFlak.

Now, to give Gilroy a little credit, Bail Organa’s cameo was assumedly far more important than it actually seems.

Andor is widely regarded as the best written Star Wars property in recent memory, so I think the writers deserve the benefit of the doubt here.

I think we’ll find out later on down the line that the recast was extremely necessary, because Bail Organa will play an extremely important role in the rest of Andor’s story.

Here’s hoping all is revealed in the next few episodes, because otherwise the explanation will feel a little flat in the long run.