“I don’t think anybody has a harder road than she does”: Tony Gilroy teases a challenging story for Mon Mothma in Andor Season 2

Diego Luna as Cassian Andor in Andor Season 2 | Image Source: Star Wars YouTube Channel
Diego Luna as Cassian Andor in Andor Season 2 | Image Source: Star Wars YouTube Channel

Andor showrunner and creator Tony Gilroy sat down for an interview with Entertainment Weekly on March 10, 2025. During the interview, Gilroy spoke extensively about the upcoming twelve-episode Andor Season 2, which will stream from April 22, 2025, to May 13, 2025. The conversation gradually shifted towards Genevieve O'Reilly's character, Mon Mothma.

The acclaimed Disney+ Star Wars series showrunner teased that Mothma's character arc in Andor Season 2 would have her go through hell. Here's what he said:

"Canonically, there's the moment where she leaves the Senate, and that's in our timeline. So we're definitely dealing with that, but I would say, of all the characters in the show, of all the hellacious things that people go through, and all of the difficulties and hardships, I don't think anybody has a harder road than she does. Because she has to do everything that everybody else does with all the tension, fear, and anxiety and she has to do it in public. She has nowhere to hide, and this season just ramps that up to an almost unbearable point."

Explaining Tony Gilroy's Andor Season 2 comments

Based on the first part of Gilroy's quote, it looks like the upcoming season of Andor will canonize the Ghorman Massacre that was first mentioned in the Expanded Universe (EU) books that fans thought was not canon anymore. But parts of the Star Wars EU have made their way into the Disney Star Wars canon, and now it looks like the Ghorman Massacre will also be canonical.

Because of this massacre, a disillusioned Mon Mothma, who initially believed that she could improve things by serving in the Senate, finally resigned and joined the rebellion against the Empire. It looks like Andor's second and final season will adapt this devastating massacre and its aftermath.

Genevieve O'Reilly appeared as young Senator Mothma for the first time in the last movie of the Prequel Trilogy Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Afterward, she returned as the character in 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and 2017's Star Wars Rebels. It wasn't until the first season of Andor (2022) that she returned as Mon Mothma. So, at this point, she is a veteran of this franchise.

Tony Gilroy was appreciative of her performance by saying:

"What Genevieve is going to do in this second season — we realized in the first season what a brilliant actress she was and that we hadn't found the limits of what she could do. We still haven't found them. But the opportunity to write for her and write her story large was very important to me in the second season."

What will Andor's upcoming season be about?

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Darker than the other Star Wars Disney+ series, Andor Season 2 will continue following the titular character's journey as a pivotal part of the rebel alliance fighting the Empire. The synopsis for the second season reads:

"Andor Season 2 will see the characters and their relationships intensify as the horizon of war draws near and Cassian becomes a key player in the Rebel Alliance. Everyone will be tested and, as the stakes rise, the betrayals, sacrifices and conflicting agendas will become profound."

As the second season is still a month away, catch the entire Andor Season 1 on Disney+.

Edited by Yesha Srivastava
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