REBEL REBEL

ACTRESS GENEVIEVE O'REILLY SHARES HER FAVOURITE MOMENTS PLAYING SENATOR MON MOTHMA IN ANDOR

- WORDS: TARA BENNETT

ACTORS ARE FOREVER ON THE HUNT. They seek characters worth exploring, productions worth investing their time and passion in, then chase those auditions that might ensure their art becomes a career. And for the lucky few, sometimes the role of a lifetime chases them.

Actress Genevieve O'Reilly is one of those actors engaged in an extended dance with a role that's been showing up repeatedly in her life for 20 years: that of Star Wars' Republic senator and eventual first chancellor of the New Republic Senate, Mon Mothma. While she didn't originate the role (that was actress Caroline Blakiston in Return Of The Jedi) O'Reilly has since embodied the strong-willed and very brave Mothma in five separate projects in the franchise.

“Over the years, it has been a surprise and a treat for me to get the opportunity to step back into her shoes, or the wig,” O'Reilly tells SFX with genuine gratitude. “From the beginning, it was so lovely to be invited to take part, or to play her when she was younger. I felt very excited to be a part of that big Star Wars universe, and to get to witness it from the inside.”

What makes her continuing adventures with the character even more extraordinary is that O'Reilly's first appearance as Mothma, in Revenge Of The Sith was cut from the film by George Lucas to better focus on Anakin Skywalker's arc towards darkness. She says at the time she received a “deeply gracious and respectful” letter of apology from producer Rick McCallum, and thought that was that.

Fast-forward to 10 years later, when she got a call out of nowhere about playing Mothma again in Gareth Edwards' Rogue One, set right before the events of