Andor’s Genevieve O’Reilly can’t wait for Star Wars fans to see Mon Mothma ‘the woman behind the cloak’

While Andor won’t be the first time Genevieve O’Reilly has played Mon Mothma in Star Wars, the show will be the first opportunity for the actor to truly show the character fully for audiences who’ve been begging to know more about her.

Speaking with USA Today about the upcoming series, O’Reilly said she’s looking forward to showing fans a form of Mon Mothma that hasn’t been seen in live-action before. She told the outlet:

"“Previously, when we’ve seen her she pops up and she’s a bit of a pillar or a statue. She’s quite noble within the Alliance. I love that they have given time to flesh her out a bit, to meet the woman behind the cloak, if you will, (and) to see what she has to wrestle with, what she has to reach for, what she has to risk, what her private life might be. That’s something we’ve never seen before.”"

In the original trilogy — 1983’s Return of the Jedi, to be exact — Mon Mothma’s role is quite small, and though she’s painted as a very important, authoritative leader, viewers don’t learn much about her. Star Wars Legends fleshed out her character in a handful of books, and canon novels have begun to do the same here and there. But most of what fans have learned about her character comes from very brief appearances.

Even her role in Star Wars Rebels, though significant to the plot of the final stretch of the TV series, was brief — and it focused almost entirely on her role in the Ghost Crew’s fight against the Imperial presence on Lothal.

Now Star Wars fans will get to see a more human, personal side to the character — something that’s long overdue, but that O’Reilly and the rest of the Andor crew will no doubt handle splendidly. It will be worth the wait.

Star Wars: Andor premieres its first three episodes on September 21 exclusively on Disney+.

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