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Yes, that’s Leia’s adopted father who’s just shown up in Andor’s second season, and no, he’s not played by Jimmy Smits, who’s played the character onscreen since 2002’s Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Before fans get too upset about the switch-up, there’s a very simple reason for the change, according to Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy — and it’s one that underscores the path to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is underway.

“The scheduling didn’t work out,” Gilroy told Entertainment Weekly about Smits’ absence from the Disney+ series. “We really tried hard, but he wasn't available and couldn't make it.” Instead, Benjamin Bratt played the character in ‘What a Festive Evening,’ and will return as the season continues.

The idea to bring in Law & Order veteran Bratt came direct from the top, Gilroy revealed. “Kathy [Kennedy, Lucasfilm president] had the idea for Benjamin. It was just a brilliant idea. He’s a wonderful human being and really eager and beloved on set and really happy about what he does.”

That the character was recast instead of simply removing Senator Bail Organa from the series altogether — after all, he doesn’t do anything that important in ‘What a Festive Evening,’ right…? — should be read as a sign of things to come, the showrunner teases. “I put him in episode 6 in an arbitrary way so people will get the [recasting] conversation out of the way until the next week when he really starts to work,” he said. “It's one of those situations where I want to do something simple. We don't do many things that are unnecessary, but it's like, ‘Let's get him in here now so people can discuss it for a week and get it out of their system and then he can come back to really work.’ I didn’t want the guy's work to be confused with his introduction.”

Now the question should be… just what is Senator Organa going to get up to in the next batch of episodes…? It’s worth noting, based on what Tony Gilroy said at Star Wars Celebration, the next batch of episodes is also likely to (finally) introduce K-2SO to the series…

Andor streams on Disney+ on Tuesdays.

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