One of the more interesting and distressing storylines is when her daughter embraces this old-school tradition from their planet which Mothma clearly thought was fading into the past. By the end of season one, do you think that she feels she’s lost her daughter? How would you describe that relationship over the course of the series?
For me, it was very easy to believe that in this life of crazy privilege within the structures of The Empire, where her father is clearly happy to bathe in the privileges of that and that her mother is clearly devoted to her job. And you see that there’s one scene around a breakfast table where Mon has this clearly timetabled time for her daughter, and her daughter just shoves it back in her face. I felt that what was really interesting to me was that the daughter also feels like she has her own agency, that she thinks for herself, that Mon Mothma clearly is a very brilliant and bright and creative and talented woman and I can see that the daughter is too. When that horrific kind of twist happens towards the end when she sits in that meeting and Sculdun [Richard Dillane] proposes to introduce her daughter to his son I remember it feeling difficult to swallow during that scene, to even digest what he was saying. And then there was a final scene, and I’m taking forever to get to your question, sorry.
No worries.
And in that very traditional sense, they’re all kind of corseted and dressed and you can see that it’s a formal proposal and walking towards it. And I remember not really knowing how I would feel until I did that. And I don’t think, from my perspective, she had made a decision yet. She was walking that horrific traditional path that sometimes you’re forced to walk.
Yeah, yeah.
But it’s clearly a choice to walk it and to see what avenues can avail themselves to me. “If I walk, if this is what my daughter wants, where can I escape? Where can I find an avenue?” I felt like I was spinning so many plates in that tiny walk, just absorbing it, seeing the other family, and noticing the other child who was so small. I remember looking at it and thinking, “Oh, this is unattractive, this is ugly.” I don’t know if she has made any decisions at the end of season one, but I think she is walking a path. You know that old [saying] about if you walk a path and there’s a choice, there’s a fork in the road.
Of course.
If you choose this way, you walk that way, and 50 meters down the road there will be another fork. And which way do you go at that fork and which way do you go at that? In life, I think often there are opportunities too that we make choices and we don’t really know where they’re going.
There’s a moment in the series where Stellan Skarsgård’s character sort of goes off on a frustrated undercover spy about how much he has sacrificed.
Yeah.
And it also is a parallel in many ways to what Mon is going through. In many ways, she lost her husband. She may lose her daughter. We know what Mon Mothma’s future is in “Rogue One.” I know you can’t give anything away, but her story can’t necessarily get happier before we get to the rebels, can it?
No, I think that’s probably a wise guess there. And you’re right, we already know where we’re going so you can fill it in. I promise you it’ll be more dangerous and more emotional and more heartbreaking and more devastating than even I thought it would be. But I do think that speech you’re talking about in episode eight, I think it speaks to the heart of the whole piece. And the storytelling in this is so parallel. There are so many stories running parallel to each other in a linear fashion, and each of them at the heart is about sacrifice.
Absolutely.
And for Mon Mothma the idea that this woman, this brilliant woman could even entertain the idea of sacrificing her daughter for the rebellion is heartbreaking and mind-blowing. And in a way, it’s hard to say this out loud, but deeply noble. How much more important are the freedoms of everyone around you than the one? You sacrifice the one for the many. Is that her ethos? Does she believe in it so much that she’s going to set fire to her life? Caroline Blakiston played her originally in “Return of the Jedi” and in that scene that she did, there is not very much to say and it is a lot about what is going to happen, “This is the plan” whatever, but at the end she says that very kind of famous line about how many Bothans died. And you can see at that moment there is a great sadness. And I was always wondering what the kernel of that pain that that woman was. Or you go all the way there and you kind of go, “O.K., she’s sacrificed a lot.” I don’t think rebellion is pretty.
When Tony sat down with you, he clearly told you what was going to happen in the first season. Did he tell you what the arc would be in the second season as well and how she would eventually get to “Rogue One”?
Well, I think he’s been open about this, but initially, there was going to be a number of seasons.
Oh, right, right.
So, he definitely had arcs. He had an arc in regard to each year essentially what was happening. So that shifts and changes when you decide. And I think what they’ve done going into the second season is quite extraordinary, the way it allows for the piece to be almost like a juggernaut. And I think the excitement of using every three episodes to jump a year drives the piece and drives the narrative in a way that is super exciting and deeply compelling. And it’s been interesting to be a part of last season and this season and see the difference. And in that storytelling, just in the structure of how you tell a story.
I know that you got for the first season, you received all the scripts upfront. As an actor working on a series, how helpful is that to have all of that in front of you while working out your arc for your character?
It’s extraordinarily helpful and vital to have scripts to be able to carve and create and to be a collaborative creator within the piece. And many people do this brilliantly, but it is really difficult to chip away or to chisel at something when you’re just getting on the morning [of filming]. If you just get it in the morning, you have to use all your instincts and you just have to go. And people are brilliant at that, and I love watching instinctual actors, but there is a great acknowledgment of craft if you’re given the time or the space to absorb the story and to be a part of creating. The first season I think was slightly different because of COVID. We did get all the scripts. This season it’s been a bit different, just because we haven’t the time.
Yeah.
Of course it’s all written, but it wasn’t the same. But Tony is a great collaborator and he’s really interested in chatting. So, he would ring and we would chat through bits. And he’s such an ear for words and for people and for connection and communication that when you then get the script and you see what he has created, it’s all there, there’s nothing to do after that. It’s quite a unique experience to get scripts that are so beautifully written and that hold such a breadth of story.
Well, I hope you enjoy it because I think we all know that that does not happen on every project.
Yeah. It’s a really, really special piece. And all the people involved in it, like our hair and makeup team and our costume team and Luke [Hull] who designed it, and Nicholas [Britell] who did the music, there is no doubt I will take this one forward in my heart because I’ve gotten to work with and collaborate with people who are just at the height of the profession. It’s really wonderful.
“Andor” is available on Disney+
