Andor Battle of the Bails - Which Actor Do You Prefer?

Now that we've had a few minutes of screen time to get to know Benjamin Bratt's interpretation of the character, it's time to decide: which actor do you like more as Bail Organa? Is Smits superior, or is Bratt best? Do you prefer the original Organa, or does the recast make for a better Bail?

 

Jimmy Smits, but Benjamin Bratt was very, very good in ep. 9.

 

Sorry Pym my man, but Bratt is not Bail. He's just not. There's only one Bail Organa and Tony Gilroy and Kathleen Kennedy being incompetent/lazy doesn't change that.

 

lol I’m no fan of the recast and I’ve made that pretty clear but not being able to keep the original actor due to scheduling conflicts isn’t incompetence or laziness. These things happen all the time.

 

Yeah, I'm genuinely just taking the piss by voting for Bratt, but I don't think it makes either of them incompetent or lazy. If they're not able to bring Smits back due to a scheduling conflict, they can't reasonable delay production on a very expensive, time consuming season of TV for an actor whose role is important but whose total screentime amounts to less than five minutes.

My spiciest possible take is that, ignoring the itchy part of my brain that likes canon consistency, I don't think either is significantly better or worse than the other, notwithstanding Smits having more screentime. But having a Bail in TCW who's directly based on Smits' portrayal does a lot of the heavy lifting for Smits in my opinion.

 

Jimmy Smits is a much better actor and a much better Bail Organa.

Very annoying that they bailed on him, the result doesn't seem organic.

 

I prefer Bratt.

 

Smits all the way.

Bratt did well, but it's very much a substitute teacher situation.

 

In a world where Smits is still personally committed to playing the role of Bail Organa in an upcoming Star Wars project, I have to think they can put the logistics together to make it happen regardless of the circumstances. Something tells me the recast was done with Smits full knowledge and blessing.

 

I really loved Benjamin Bratt but it’s a missed opportunity to not hear Jimmy Smits say “now go tear some **** up”

 

How come there's no option for those of us who don't give a "****"? (Just quoting the character.)

 

I think Benjamin did fine but you can’t beat Jimmy

 

Smits of course. In the end I can just deal with it but yup in a show that I love such as this boy do I wish we had the consistency on Bail.

 

Benjamin Bratt did a fine portrayal of Bail, the problem was that Smits was Bail first. Acting-wise they are comparable and had Bratt been cast as Bail in the PT and RO and Smits the recast in Andor I would have preferred Bratt. But I feel that Smits is Bail in the hearts of fans as he was there first and made the role his own. I just feel bad that Smits didn't get to play the character in one of the best and most critically acclaimed SW shows; as far as I know he loves the character and fans love him as the character too.

 

They need to go all in and cast some high profile actress such as Anya Taylor Joy to play Leia, so that the fandom will get collectively pissed off one last time, before they'll finally get over this ridiculous crusade against recasting and get used to it, as people consistently do in many other franchise.

 

I’m an official member of the Jimmy Smits fan club, but I prefer Bratt, and think he’s the better actor.

I chose the lasagna.

 

dp

 

Chorus hit the nail on the head. It has literally never happened before in this franchise where an actor is temporarily (Jimmy plays him chronologically first in the prequels and last in Rogue One) changed. It is immersion-breaking to an extreme.

If you can’t do it right, then don’t do it and write the character out.

 

I'm not sure I prefer one or the other. They're both fine. Bail Organa is a tertiary character to me. He shows up here and there, makes an occasional impression, but there's nothing in Jimmy Smits playing him that is indispensable about the character. Bratt has done a fine job matching him.