When developing Star Wars: Andor Season 2, showrunner Tony Gilroy considered including a cameo for an iconic original trilogy character, but he ultimately decided against it. Following the release of the Andor series finale, Gilroy spoke with Screen Rant and detailed his original plans for a Princess Leia appearance. Very early on in the process, Gilroy toyed with the idea of featuring Leia during the Investiture Week festivities that took place halfway through Season 2. In particular, Gilroy attempted to craft a scene between Leia and Mon Mothma, but it never materialized. He noted that the scene in question didn’t get past the conceptual stage.
“There were some nutrients for a scene between her and Mothma that if she was going there at 16 and Mothma had gone to the Senate when she was 16, there was some basic cool things for a scene, but it never got past that, and it never went to the casting stage, or it never got more real than that,” Gilroy said. “I remember talking to [Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy about it and talking to [Star Wars lore advisor Pablo Hidalgo] about it, but it never got traction, and then it became a distraction.“
Prior to the release of Andor Season 2 last month, actress Vivien Lyra Blair, who played young Princess Leia in Obi-Wan Kenobi, revealed that she wouldn’t be reprising the role on Andor. While Leia herself never appeared on screen, her family still played an integral role in the acclaimed drama. Benjamin Bratt replaced Jimmy Smits as Senator Bail Organa in Andor Season 2, as Smits was unavailable due to a scheduling conflict.
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Bratt made his Andor debut in Episode 6, “What a Festive Evening,” which is the episode that features the Investiture party. The actor just has a cameo in the episode, exchanging pleasantries with Mon Mothma and her husband Perrin Fertha. Based on Gilroy’s comments, it seems like this would have been the episode where Leia appeared, getting advice from Mon Mothma about pursuing a career in the Senate.
Andor was never a show to lean on fan service, but a Leia cameo would have come across as organic. The Princess is heavily involved with the Rebel Alliance, emerging as one of the group’s determined leaders at such a young age. It would have made sense to include her, showing how she helped the Rebellion in its earliest days. However, from a certain point of view, it’s easy to see why Gilroy decided against it. It sounds like Leia only would have been part of a single scene for the entire season, which may not have been worth it. If Leia had a cameo and didn’t appear later on in Season 2, fans would have been disappointed. Rather than force something that wasn’t entirely necessary, Gilroy opted to just cut it.
Andor didn’t shy away from featuring Star Wars legacy characters, but they were never included just for the sake of it. Gilroy ensured they had meaningful roles to play, adding depth and richness to figures like Mon Mothma. As great as it would have been to see a teenage Leia working alongside her adoptive father to put the Rebel Alliance together, if Gilroy couldn’t find a way to weave her into the story properly, it was probably best Leia was cut altogether. Fortunately, Lucasfilm didn’t give Gilroy and his team mandates about which characters to include, and Andor Season 2 was able to end the acclaimed series on a high note.
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