Mon Mothma Explained: All Star Wars Movies, Shows & Rebel Origin (2024)

Last seen in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) will be returning in the Star Wars’ live-action series Andor. Acting as a prequel, Tony Gilroy’s Andor follows Rebel spy Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) over the five years leading up to Rogue One, when he helped steal the plans to the Imperial Death Star. This period of time was pivotal for the Rebels, as they were steadfastly building their alliance against the Galactic Empire, and Mon Mothma played a crucial role in these formative years.

Andor served under Mothma, a major character in Star Wars canon. Andor will provide a deeper look into the character’s personal life, with showrunner Gilroy investing time and effort in her story. "We really get to develop her as a character, and we get to learn about her not just as a senator, but as a woman," O’Reilly shared (via Entertainment Weekly). She continued, "[we see] what her life is like, what she has to wrestle with, what are the dangers to her life, what it costs to be her… We see her talking to senators, and then we meet her at home with her husband. We see the public and the private. We see her literally and figuratively take off her cloak and reveal herself as a woman in a way we've never seen before." This suggests that Andor will help flesh out one of Star Wars most enigmatic peripheral characters.

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Once a key figurehead for Star Wars’ Rebel Alliance during the dark days of the Empire’s rule, much of Mothma’s political career has been documented across Star Wars’ live-action and animated projects. With Andor featuring the character more in-depth than ever, a refresher of Mothma’s vast history and previous appearances will be key to understanding the character. From Return of the Jedi to Rebels, Mothma certainly has a rich and varied history to draw upon. Here are Mon Mothma’s appearances and Rebel origin explained.

Every Star Wars Movie & TV Show Mon Mothma Appears In

Mothma’s first film appearance was in 1983’s Return of the Jedi, where she was brought to life by English actor Caroline Blakiston. In the character’s approximate one minute of screen time, she gave an important brief to the Rebel Fleet prior to the Battle of Endor (not Andor, as some mistakenly believe), solemnly delivering one of the film’s most iconic lines: “Many Bothans died to bring us this information.” Over 20 years later, the role was taken over by Irish-Australian actor Genevieve O’Reilly, who played a younger version of Mothma in 2005’s prequel film Revenge of the Sith. Though her dialogue was cut from its theatrical release, Mothma did appear in the film’s deleted scenes. More specifically, she was seen meeting in secret with other senators including Padmé Amidala and Bail Organa, where they discussed the Republic movement that would soon manifest as the Empire. A decade later, O’Reilly then reprised the character for a more prominent role in Rogue One.

In addition to the Star Wars movies, Mothma appeared as a recurring character in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels, which both helped fill in parts of her stories between the movies. Mothma’s efforts in the Senate between 2002’s Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith were depicted in detail in the 15 Clone Wars episodes she appeared in, voiced by Kath Soucie. O’Reilly then voiced the character in Rebels, notably in the season 3 episode “Secret Cargo” where Mothma spoke out against the Galactic Emperor Palpatine before promptly exiting the Senate and Empire, knowing she would no longer be welcome. Andor has already been renewed for season 2, which is expected to overlap with major events in Rebels and add even more detail to Mothma’s legacy.

Mon Mothma's Backstory Explained

In 46BBY, Mothma was born into a political family, with an arbiter-general father in the Galactic Republic, and a governor mother who served their home planet Chandrila. Along with Amidala, Mothma became one of the youngest senators to date when she herself joined the Republic’s Galactic senate in 32BBY, also representing Chandrila. Though for a time she shifted to becoming a historian, she ultimately returned to politics, then serving on the senate for years, even for a time after the Empire took over.

Related: Star Wars: Why Mon Mothma Isn't In A New Hope

Along with senators Amidala and Organa, Mothma was part of the Loyalist Committee, a group of senators who sought to uphold and ideals of the Republic. They hoped to weaponize diplomacy to end the ongoing conflict between the Republic and Separatist movements. Mothma was also close with Organa personally, later acting as a teacher to his adoptive daughter Leia who went on to play a pivotal role in the downfall of the Empire and her birth father Darth Vader.

Following the Empire’s rise to power, Mothma pledged her allegiance to their new imperial regime, but secretly remained firmly against their rule. As such, she attempted to take them down from within. Though she had trained in combat as a fighter pilot, Mothma often avoided physical battle. Alternatively, she utilized her skills as a strategist and political leader to assist the Rebel Alliance, playing a critical role in their formation and rise against the Empire.

How Mon Mothma Founded The Rebel Alliance

After suspicions of the Separatist movement began to form, Mothma worked with Organa to begin spreading their message of rebellion. After publicly denouncing the Emperor in Rebels, Mothma boarded The Ghost – a ship belonging to the Rebels series Ghost Crew – where she broadcast her message of rebellion across the Holonet. She asked all rebel cells to come together to bring down the Empire, effectively birthing the Rebel Alliance. During this time, both Mothma and Organa led and united many resistance movements. Later, Mothma also formed Operation Fracture, a secret operation to rescue scientist Galen Erso, who could confirm the existence of the Empire’s Death Star. It would later be Erso’s daughter Jyn (Felicity Jones) who would align with Andor to steal the plans to the Death Star, after which point Mothma became the Rebel Alliance’s Chancellor and Commander-in-Chief, leading them to eventual victory in The Battle of Endor.

What Happens To Mon Mothma After Andor & Rogue One

In Star Wars canon books Legends and a 2005 official Star Wars reference book, Mothma’s story ends when she dies on her home planet of Chandrila, approximately 20 years after the Battle of Endor. However, this is no longer considered canon following Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm. It is canon that, prior to the events of 2015’s The Force Awakens, Mothma stepped down from her role as Chancellor of the Rebel Alliance after falling ill. Her retirement is often considered a factor in the New Republic’s fall into chaos, as they were weakened due to their lack of leadership. Successors were unable to replicate the same political harmony Mothma produced. After this point, it’s unclear in Star Wars movies and shows if she survived until 35ABY, when 2019’s Rise of Skywalker is set. Though it likely won’t provide answers as to what happened to Mothma in the end, her appearance in Andor is sure to add exciting depth and personality to the character’s decades-long storyline.

New episodes of Andor are released weekly on Disney+.