Thursday 18th December will see the arrival of the latest edition of Empire Magazine, and within its pages is an interview with Andor writer Dan Gilroy, who amongst other things talks about the Ghorman Massacre from season two and the importance – and pressure – of writing Mon Mothma‘s vital and already iconic speech, a task he didn’t take lightly.
“I revelled in it,” he remembers. “I got lost in it. I imagined it. I respected it. I wanted to make every comma and period proper and right. This was hallowed ground to me.” It was a chance to express admiration for what it takes to truly stand up for something, to commit fully to a cause, at great personal cost. “There’s nothing more important to me than someone who’s willing to sacrifice themselves for a political ideal, or a fight against the evil tendencies of our human nature,” he says. “I bow to that.”
Gilroy was more than aware of the real-world resonances of the speech, penned in 2023 as America’s political landscape began to shift again. “As I was literally starting to write this episode, I was watching senators and congressmen and congresswomen abandoning their democratic principles and bending their knee to power,” Gilroy explains. “So when I’m writing that speech, I’m angry. I’m very angry. Because I can very much relate to what’s going on in Mon’s world.” Mon Mothma’s words have never rung so loudly.
