A Love Letter To Genevieve O'Reilly

I was rightfully chastised yesterday when I mentioned that I hadn't written anything here on the site proper about Andor (even as I haven't shut up about it on social media) so let's right that wrong today with a love letter to the biggest reason for that love -- namely Genevieve O'Reilly's extraordinary performance as the senator-turned-rebel-leader Mon Mothma. She's been playing the character in some iteration since she her scene got cut out of Revenge of the Sith in 2005 -- the character was originally played by Caroline Blakiston in Return of the Jedi, ("Many Bothans died to bring us this information") and no I couldn't have told you any of this nerdy shit a few weeks ago before I binged the first season of Andor right before the second season began. As I've stated on here a million times I've never been much of a Star Wars person; I was way too young when the original trilogy came out to pay them much mind (my parents didn't take me to the movies so I definitely didn't see any of them in the theater) -- Jurassic Park was my Star Wars. But since binging Andor, phenomonal Andor, I find myself wanting to go re-watch all of the Star Wars movies, which will surely turn out disappointing in comparison given that Andor is operating on a completely different level than anything else the franchise has ever accomplished. At the very least after tonight, when the final three episodes air, I will have to go and watch Rogue One again -- Andor is that film's prequel and I have a feeling I'll have a very different reaction to it now compared to the shrug it got from me when it came out in 2016. 

All of that said it's Genevieve O'Reilly we're here to celebrate, and celebrate we shall -- there are several great performances happening on the show (Denise Gough and Kyle Soller as those fascist creeps Dedra and Syril we hate to love, for instance) but, with all due apologies to Diego Luna -- Andor belongs to O'Reilly. Watching her transformation from a life of walled-off privilege to one of dangerous rebellion all due to her steadfast commitment to freedom for all has been wildly inspiring to watch -- I don't know if there will be a better scene on TV this year than the one where she has a breakdown on the dance floor at her daughter's wedding as she realizes just how much her life is collapsing around her. Andor has been so smart about the way it's wielded what we know is coming -- the inevitability of everyone's coming roles in the rebellion (given we already know most of their fates) has enriched every choice instead of undermining the tension. Tony Gilroy (the showrunner) has done an astonishing job forcing us to luxuriate in these uncomfortable choices, and nobody's made a richer feast out of this than O'Reilly. Give this woman all of the awards!

Been a hot minute since I have loved a character and a performance as much as I love this lady right here #andor

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— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) April 23, 2025 at 11:12 PM