Andor star Genevieve O'Reilly recently teased her Star Wars future. Set five years before the Battle of Yavin in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, the latest entry in the science-fiction fantasy franchise stars Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, a battle-hardened spy who led the Alliance in their first major victory against the tyrannical Galactic Empire in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The new Disney+ series serves a prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, featuring returning actors Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrera, the Clone Wars veteran who leads a militant resistance faction, and O'Reilly as Mon Mothma, the Imperial senator who witnessed the downfall of the Republic and became the leader of the Alliance to Restore the Republic.
Although Mon Mothma made her franchise debut in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi with Caroline Blakiston in the role, O'Reilly was hired to portray a teenage version in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. Following her appearance in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Andor episode 4 sees the actor return to the role as a member of the Imperial Senate who battles the Empire from within, financially supporting a military insurrection in secret. The series also reveals Mon Mothma's husband, Perrin Fertha (Alastair Mackenzie), a member of the senate who appears apathetic toward the pain and suffering caused by the Empire.
In an interview with EW, O'Reilly teases Mon Mothma's future in the latest Star Wars television series, Andor. The actor highlights the senator's conflicted nature in episode 4, as a woman who is wrestling with her own internal battles as well as external ones regarding the Empire. O'Reilly hints at upcoming "compromising choices" that Mon Mothma will face as Andor continues. Read what the actor says below:
What you have from episode 4 is an understanding that this is a deeply complicated woman. It's less of a face that we've seen previously, and it lives within the world of Andor, but also in the world of Rogue One, where it's gritty. It's a bit dirty, it's a bit gray, it's a bit shady. She, perhaps, might make compromising choices that we haven't seen before. We have a woman who has the seed of rebellion within her. That's what we see in Andor. We see a woman lean in to the seed of her own rebellion.
Big Changes Are Coming For Andor's Mon Mothma
O'Reilly portrays a different version of Mon Mothma than audiences have seen before. When introduced in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, she was depicted as the strong leader of the Alliance prior to the attack on the second Death Star. However, Andor portrays her as a senator stressed from her time in government, arguing against the Empire's pawns while enacting no significant change through legislation. Her agitation is evident through her secret meeting with Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) as well as her relationship with her husband, who does not appear to share her animosity toward the Empire.
Andor appears to be laying the groundwork for Mon Mothma to begin her own character journey from an Imperial senator who feels like she is barely staying afloat, to the future leader of the entire Rebel Alliance. O'Reilly's allusion to the decisions Mon Mothma must make teases the emotional and psychological struggle that is to come for her. While only commanding a few scenes so far in Andor, O'Reilly has already effectively set the stage for the next steps toward her destined role as the Rebellion's leader.
Source: EW