Star Wars has never shied away from a dark plot twist even though George Lucas originally intended the movies for a younger audience, and Andor certainly pushes the envelope when it comes to mature themes like the political undercurrent of the galaxy far, far away, but according to one of the show’s stars, there’s still more to this burgeoning rebellion than meets the eye.
Genevieve O’Reilly portrayed a younger version of Alliance leader Mon Mothma in Andor, depicting the days when she served as an Imperial Senator while also hatching plans in secret to give rise to the notion of a rebellion against Palpatine’s tyrannical rule.
In a recent chat with ThePlaylist, O’Reilly explained why there’s a darker side to leading a rebellion, and it ironically doesn’t involve a whole lot of fighting and violence as depicted in the original trilogy.
“I remember he [Tony Gilroy] was very focused on her being an active politician… And that he was also interested in discovering her not just as a device for narrative exposition, but also as a woman. Because previously that’s what she was. In all the other iterations, she came on, she gave some information. She said, ‘This is the mission. This is what you have to do now everybody. Brilliant. Go and do it.’ And she’s wonderful. But he was really interested in exploring the chaos of her political reality, but also the chaos of her as a human having to hold that.”
Andor certainly paved the path, from a narrative perspective, for Mon Mothma to be more than just a figurehead. As O’Reilly points out, in the days of the original trilogy, the general simply appeared to give the heroes their next mission and then disappeared for good.
Take the few moments we see her in Return of the Jedi, for instance, which is essentially a debriefing that underlines the Alliance’s final offensive against the Empire. And while showrunner Tony Gilroy was wise to resurrect the character in Rogue One, this television series is the first Star Wars project to actually depict Mon Mothma’s story, rather than show her off as just another piece in the puzzle.
Mon Mothma will be back in the second and final season of Andor, and we can’t wait to see what this unconventional heroine will do next.