Andor’s Genevieve O’Reilly referenced a classic Star Wars scene to prepare for her role

Genevieve O’Reilly may not be new to Star Wars or the screen, but Andor is the first time she — and her Star Wars character — have been given a true spotlight to work with. The role, which she officially adopted for the first time in Star Wars Rebels, didn’t come about without looking back at what and who had come before.

Fortunately, Star Wars has now been around long enough that creators have a lot to pull from when gathering inspiration and insight into the characters they’re writing, playing, directing, or animating. The same way Alden Ehrenreich was able to study Harrison Ford’s performance as Han Solo in preparation for playing a younger version of the character in Solo: A Star Wars Story, the “new” Mon Mothma also had something to look back on when stepping into her own on-screen role.

Even though Caroline Blakiston originally and briefly debuted the role of Mon Mothma in 1983’s Return of the Jedi, O’Reilly planned to take over the character in 2005’s Revenge of the Sith. Despite her scene not making the final cut of the film, the actor has played Mon Mothma several times since then, including most recently in Andor.

Getting the character right was extremely important to O’Reilly — so much so that she used Blakiston’s original performance as a guide for her own role as the rebel leader. She told StarWars.com in a recent interview:

"“I remember studying the scene, really trying to work on capturing her voice, her syntax, so that fans could see a connectedness between me playing her and Caroline playing her… I always go back to that scene. I think that was as ambitious then — perhaps even more ambitious — than it is now [to have a woman leading the Alliance]. And she’s a character that I love.”"

Women have notoriously held notable, powerful roles in Star Wars since its origin — there just haven’t been as many female heroes as there may have been if the franchise had been born today. This role has clearly meant a lot to O’Reilly, but it means just as much to the Star Wars fans watching her character come to life on-screen once more.

Visit StarWars.com for the full interview with Andor‘s Genevieve O’Reilly.

Andor releases new episodes every Wednesday exclusively on Disney+.

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