Andor’s Genevieve O’Reilly talks Mon Mothma’s ‘awkward’ marriage

Before Andor, few Star Wars fans could have imagined Mon Mothma would return to the franchise on the small screen again. Even fewer could have predicted that her character would hold a prominent role in a live-action series set before the events of the original trilogy.

After Genevieve O’Reilly’s cut Revenge of the Sith scenes reduced her character to nothing more than a shadow, it took appearances in Rogue One and Star Wars Rebels to revive any hope that her character could hold her own in a future story set in a galaxy far, far away.

But now she’s back in the spotlight — with a twist. Because most of her canon background has been revealed exclusively in the books, many fans weren’t aware that she was married very young — to, it turns out, possibly not a great guy.

The actor spoke about this marriage with Entertainment Weekly, further explaining why showrunner Tony Gilroy wanted part of her story to focus on her character’s relationship with husband Perrin Fertha.

"“It’s awkward, isn’t it? Mon Mothma has been a Senator since the time she was 16. What Tony really was interested in exploring was, what is that if you’ve been that since you were 16? What is the orthodoxy that you live in and you have had to live within? That you were married at 16 or before, and you are representing your planet in a political sphere at 16. What are the constructs of your life that allows you that, and that, 14 years later, you are still there? What is that cage? And he’s exploring that.”"

There are a few theories going around about Perrin. While he’s likely not going to be painted as someone viewers are supposed to root for, some fans have speculated that he’s playing up the role of careless, disrespectful partner in order to help cover up what Mon is really doing — if he plays such a role, perhaps those watching will focus more on their relationship and less on what she’s doing behind closed doors to quietly tear down the Empire.

That would be a great twist. But it’s hard to hold onto that hope when you look at him and acknowledge how much of a jerk he at the very least pretended to be toward our queen.

Andor drops new episodes every Wednesday exclusively on Disney+.

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