It’s impossible to overstate what Andor accomplished with its BBY 2 arc. Forget where it ranks among Star Wars greatest entries. The Ghorman Massacre is among the very best stories ever filmed period. And yet, somehow, the show made the political fallout about what happened on Ghorman just as moving and powerful as the tragedy itself. Mon Mothma’s explosive Senate speech in “Welcome to the Rebellion” is a tense, emotional, pulsating hour of TV full of danger, fear, and heroism. And at the center of that incredible ninth Andor episode was Genevieve O’Reilly’s absolutely stunning performance.
While O’Reilly has played the role in other Star Wars projects, her performance as Mon Mothma on Andor is among the best I have ever seen from any actor in any medium. That’s what made her Senate speech (which she delivered in full while shooting) even more breathtaking. It was the culmination of everything the character has put into her efforts to save the galaxy, and it was the culmination of everything O’Reilly has put into playing her on Andor and across the Star Wars universe. And I had no qualms hiding my adoration for what she’s accomplished when I talked to one of Star Wars‘ greatest heroes during an emotional interview about calling out the Emperor for all the galaxy to see, being part of something special, and if she knows what she’s accomplished as a performer.
Nerdist: We’re talking less than 24 hours after the premiere of this season’s third arc, which myself, and many others, think is truly special. These episodes of Andor feel special not even just for Star Wars, but for the history of television. How do you feel now that these Andor episodes, especially episode nine with your big Senate speech, are out in the world?
Genieve O’Reilly: I feel relieved they’re out there. It’s overused, but that whole idea of “it takes a village,” we all worked so hard. And I’m remembering all those people it took to bring episode nine of Andor together. For me, episode nine was the most important for Mon. It really gets to the heart of who she is, that it is the crux of her politically and personally. And it allows story time and screen time for us to really understand her, and her courage, and her voice in a way that we just haven’t had before. I really wanted to do that justice, and I’m grateful that it’s out there.
We get the final product, which has the directing, the editing, the music. We see how the episode plays in the context of the whole season. But did you know while you were filming “Welcome to the Rebellion” that you were part of something really incredible?
O’Reilly: Yeah, “I did” is the very short answer. I remember receiving the script, and it comes off the back of episode eight, which was the Ghorman Massacre, so I always knew that we were driving to this point for Mon. I always knew that this was her zenith as a character, if you will. So when the script landed, it was everything I hoped for as an actor.
Because even before you get to the speech, it allows for such nuance of character of a woman. You get that scene with Luthen at the beginning of it. You get to understand fear. You get to see the tectonic plates shifting underneath all of them. You get to see these many facets of rebellion are conflating, and we’re coming to a very important point. You see the fear amongst all these groups. You see the fractures, the fissures within the idea of rebellion. You see that it’s not linear. You see that it’s all very fragile.
And her fear, her doubts, her bravery and her ability….and this is in the writing, it’s so much in the writing, which I was so grateful to receive…her ability in the face of all that fear and oppression that she’s able to step forward and find the words to be the leader that people need her to be…
I’m pretty sure you don’t want to lavish praise on yourself, but I’m happy to do it for you. I think what you’ve done with this character is among the best performances I’ve ever seen. Do you have a sense of what you’ve accomplished with this role?
O’Reilly: :long pause: It is very kind of you. I feel quite emotional that you said that. Thank you very much.
I’m grateful that you’ve responded to the work in that way. And I’m so grateful that through Andor, we as a group, our writers and I as an actor, have been able to achieve something that I could have only hoped for. They’ve written and I’ve got to perform a wife, a mother, a friend, a senator, a leader, and a fucking brave woman. A woman who never picks up a gun, but who gets to stand up there and use her voice in a way that we don’t see very often. And I got to help in the creation of that.
You said before that you see the end product, you see after it’s all been edited. But I remember that day. I remember, and it was kind of a lonely day on set. Because on Andor, all the stages are built. Everything is done. But the Senate is not. The Senate is a green screen. So I remember climbing up these steps into this dais in the middle of this big sound stage with just green around me. I remember our director, Janus (Metz) on a loudspeaker, I don’t know, 10 meters underneath. I remember all our crew being there. I remember our first A.D. Sean calling for quiet. And I hope I remember forever what it was to stand up in front of all those people that meant so much to me and give that speech.
I was going to ask you about that and how you kept the literal size of the moment. Because we’re seeing a giant Senate chamber, but obviously you’re not in one. So I wanted to ask how kept the size of the moment real for Mon even if it wasn’t for you?
O’Reilly: Well, there’s something in having to stand up in front of our whole crew. And that is also the gift from our writers, and from Tony (Gilroy) for me to be able to give a whole speech. And also from our director, not feeling the need to have to chop it up for me to stand and give it. Because therefore, as an actor, what is required is not the same bravery but an element of bravery. Which is “stand and deliver.” And that was well into filming. The crew becomes your family. So I wanted to do Mon proud, I wanted to do me proud, and I wanted to do them proud. I do remember shaking as I was giving it.
I want to get back to the speech, but I do want to touch on the time before it because in the buildup, Mon is clearly feeling a fear she’s never experienced before. And she also has a million other thoughts and worries running through her head at the same time. What was it like for you carrying all of that heavy emotional baggage while also having to do your job?
O’Reilly: It’s really important that we see her have to carry that weight, because it is in carrying that weight that we understand what she is risking and what she must sacrifice.
I remember that note to myself. Which is at every moment, at every moment that you get within the structure of that piece, at every moment that you get closer to actually giving the speech, you are closer and closer to setting fire to your own life. There is such a cognizant understanding in that woman, that at that moment everything’s gone. So it was important for me as an actor to pay attention to carrying that, the cumulative weight as you step towards the inevitable. But the idea that that is…that inevitability…is a choice. I mean it’s both inevitable and a choice all at once, if that makes sense.
It does. And it fits in with the themes of these episodes, where they talk about making a choice. It makes total sense. So, is that what was going through your head in the moments right before you come out into the Senate? Because I found those silent moments of Mon by herself incredibly powerful.
O’Reilly: Thank you. They were really important because she’s very lonely in those moments. I think we can recognize ourselves in moments like that when we’re watching something. And if I, as an actor, can hold strength and vulnerability at the same moment, then perhaps we can see ourselves in her. That’s what great storytelling does. It allows us to see or to recognize ourselves in it. So that was the job. I’m thrilled to hear that you could see that
You take the tiniest of pauses before naming Palpatine as the galaxy’s monster. What happened in that pause?
O’Reilly: There’s a few moments in that speech where I remember creating choices, but even if it was just subliminal, I wanted to pay attention to the risk of calling his name. To the risk of naming it. We don’t talk about him very much in our piece. So if you can perhaps see, even within her, the fear of his name, what that does. Once again, that’s another threshold. That’s another Rubicon, because by naming him, by naming it, she is treasonous. She has a target on her back. Each step, “Can you do it? Can you do it?” The bravery it takes them just to go. Just to actually stand and put the target on yourself. Stand in front of the fire and squad.
How did filming the post-speech sequence, which is a more visceral and present fear, compare to filming everything that came before you delivered it?
O’Reilly: There was a great resolution post-speech because Mon collides with Andor for the first time. That was something we had been really looking forward to. I remember Diego (Luna) and I on set kind of going, “Here we are! Together! It was really a lovely moment. But what was exciting for myself as an actor there was that this was, once again, a scenario we’ve never seen Mon in. And where she is in control in the speech, or within her own fears and within her own doubts, that is a moment she has carved and she has created.
What happens subsequently afterwards she has no skills at. She doesn’t even know how she’s going to get out of that building. She’s distrustful and doubtful of everybody. And there’s that big shoot up scene in the lobby, and then it’s almost like she is a passenger of her own ignorance at that moment. This is Cassian’s world. He is the soldier. She is not.
So to be able to allow her to be a bit useless was really good, was really important because I also wanted to show…and there’s also that scene later with her driver…in those scenes that this is not a woman who has seen an awful lot of bloodshed. This is not a woman who has stood and had somebody that she knows murdered directly in front of her. So the performance has to be quite antithetical, quite wildly different. And it had to allow for her to be horrified and shocked and useless.
Then that also allows for a journey to the scene after that in the safe house. For her to be fragile and bruised and in shock. These are also really human emotions that we perhaps can all recognize.
I wish we had five hours to talk about this one episode, but we’re going to end on a slightly lighter note because I know what our readers are also going to be begging me to ask you. You said it takes a village, and I know you’re working with world-class hair and makeup teams and costume teams, but you are still the one who has to pull these looks off. And I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that you have fully established Mon Mothma as a true fashion icon in the galaxy far, far away. How much pride do you take in that?
O’Reilly: :big smile: Look, that’s everything. And you know what? I have to credit fans and people for going with it. This has been a big swing. This is a Mon Mothma we haven’t seen before. And the fact that fans and viewers have allowed for that, have gone with that, have hopped on board with us, that really wasn’t a given. And it was really vital for me to show her with all the writing and all the Michael (Wilkinson)’s costumes and Emma (Scott)’s hair and makeup that we allow this woman to be as brilliant and as brave and as fearful and as mobile and as physical as we have ever seen her. And I am really grateful that people have seen her and gone with it.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. He thinks Andor’s BBY 2 arc is maybe the greatest thing to ever appear on TV. You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermikeOpens in a new tab. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.