With Andor arriving on Disney+ on September 21st, I recently got to speak with Genevieve O'Reilly about playing Mon Mothma in the new Star Wars series. Andor is a two-season event that starts five years before the events of Rogue One. The first season will cover a year, while the second season will cover the next four years in 3-episode blocks. Meaning episodes one through three will be year two, episodes four through six is year three, seven though nine is year four, and the final episodes will be year five and the plan is to end episode twelve right before Rogue One starts.

During the interview, O'Reilly talked about why she loved showrunner Tony Gilroy’s writing, how Andor takes place before the rebellion is fully formed, getting to work with Stellan Skarsgård, the incredible production design, and more.

Andor features the return of Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrera along with newcomers to the series including Adria Arjona (Bix Caleen), Kyle Soller, Denise Gough, and Robert Emms. The 12-episode first season will feature episodes directed by Toby Haynes, Ben Caron, and Susanna White.

Watch what Genevieve O'Reilly had to say above, or you can read our conversation below.

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Image via Lucasfilm

COLLIDER: I want to start with a huge congrats on the series. I've seen the first four episodes, and they're fantastic. What I love most is that there are no Skywalkers, Jedis, desert planets, lightsabers. It's focusing on a completely different place in the Star Wars universe. Can you talk about that aspect?

GENEVIEVE O’REILLY: Well, that's Tony Gilroy's vision, and his writing and the moment in time that he's chosen to set this is at the heart of what you're talking about. We know Tony's writing. He comes from... He's written the Bourne films. He wrote Michael Clayton. We know that he writes so beautifully and intricately and deftly the spy genre. And that's the world we're in investing in with Andor, this spy thriller corner of the Star Wars world.

But at the time we meet them is a time I don't think we've really discovered much or wrestled with much within the timeline of Star Wars. And that is where there is not quite a rebellion yet. We're so used to having the empire versus rebellion. We have a very, a burgeoning whisper of rebellion in this, but they are not connected in any way. There is no central force. They are so disparate.

There is an understanding that there is an oppressive regime, that Palpatine is marching forward on that road to autocracy that we recognize, but there is no collective rebellion at this stage. It's a bit murkier. We're playing in a world where it's less black and white, where characters have to really wade within gray areas in order to reach each other.

From what I understand, your character has had a lot of stuff in the Star Wars novels, a lot of things have happened. Have you read any of that and has Tony incorporated any of the book stuff into the series? Do you know?

O’REILLY: I haven't read the novels. I have been a part of this for a while and I certainly have played her different moments, but I don't know the novels. I'm not sure what Tony has excavated for source material. Yeah, so I can't help either.

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Image via Disney+

It's totally cool. You have a great scene with Stellan Skarsgård. I'm not going to give anything away, but it's just, it's very well done. Can you talk about working with him as a scene partner?

O’REILLY: I think you're talking about the scene where we first meet Mon Mothma in this series. And we meet her at Luthen's gallery. Now, Stellan Skarsgård plays Luthen, who's quite an enigmatic character in this. And he has many faces. And she meets him, and it feels at once familiar, but also, it's quite public. We meet a Senator, and we know her as a Senator with a gallery owner.

What's extraordinary is that within half a scene, we pull back the layers, and they enter a private space. And we see a different version of the relationship between these two people. Straight away, it's multifaceted. The joy of that as an actor to play, to be able to play within a scene the public and the private, and to do it together with such taught dialogue, it was like swordplay. We had so much fun together. He's an extraordinary actor, and he's a delightful human being. We were like kids in a playground on that set.

You also would appreciate that set is so beautiful. The architecture of Luke Hall's design is stunning. And I hope it's as stunning for viewers as it is and was for us to play in it. It is so tactile. Everything in that gallery space was a piece of art. And when you look at it, you can see not just the artistry of Luke and the crafts people, but you can see the history of the different cultures and the different timelines that inhabit all these planets on Star Wars. It tells such an amazing story in one space. Stellan and I had a ball.

Andor premieres September 21st on Disney+ with the first three episodes.

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