While Andor follows the development and growth of Cassian Andor from the scattershot life he led on Ferrix to the sharp end of the rebellion on Scarif, other characters are also developing through the scope of the show, foremost amongst them being Mon Mothma, as played by Genevieve O’Rielly.
First seen onscreen in 1983’s Return of the Jedi, Mothma was a beacon of light in the darkest times and while Andor has allowed showrunner Tony Gilroy the chance to investigate her path to leadership, the opportunities afforded by working with a quality actress of the calibre of O’Rielly have clearly allowed Gilroy to write the character into some deep, dark situations.
“We had some ambitions for what we were going to do with Mon Mothma, turning her upside-down and filling out her backstory in a way that might be obscure to canon and to the history books, but I also was unaware of how brilliant an actress Genevieve O’Reilly is. I knew she was good, but we got in there and started messing around and like, oh my gosh, she’s world-class. Absolutely state of the art and she can do anything.”
“I would argue, particularly because we’re doing season 2 stuff now… she has to do all the things that everybody else does, but she has to do it under glass. She’s under observation all the time. I would argue that her path through the show is more rigorous and dangerous and more tension-making than anybody’s, really.
“We rose to that as we figured that out and also figured out how brilliant and how difficult we could make the material for Genevieve, and how effortlessly she could pull it off. There’s some really heavy things coming up… I think her path is very, very tough.”
