{"id":356008,"date":"2026-01-06T23:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T23:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/356008\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T23:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T23:24:08","slug":"49-years-ago-today-an-iconic-star-wars-actor-was-born-and-their-character-has-only-gotten-better-with-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/356008\/","title":{"rendered":"49 Years Ago Today, an Iconic Star Wars Actor Was Born (And Their Character Has Only Gotten Better With Time)"},"content":{"rendered":"

2027 is shaping up to be a significant year for Star Wars<\/a>. For starters, next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the release of Star Wars: A New Hope. The original cut of the beloved movie will return to theaters<\/a> for a limited time, allowing older fans who first saw it in 1977 to see it on the big screen again and younger ones to take it in for the first time. A New Hope\u2018s rerelease will also help build the hype for Lucasfilm\u2019s lone movie release of 2027, Star Wars: Starfighter, directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Gosling, Mia Goth, and Matt Smith.<\/p>\n

As fun as 2027 will be, though, there\u2019s no reason to jump the gun just yet because this year has just as much potential. A galaxy far, far away is returning to theaters for the first time since 2019 with the release of Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu<\/a>, and there\u2019s a good chance that the second season of Star Wars: Ahsoka lands on Disney+ before December rolls around. However, all of that pales in comparison to the birthday that\u2019s being celebrated today, as it puts the spotlight on both an actor and a character who deserve the world.<\/p>\n

George Lucas Couldn\u2019t Fit Every Character in the Prequels<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Back in the early 2000s, Genevieve O\u2019Reilly, born January 6, 1977, was cutting her teeth in the movie business by playing minor roles in the first two The Matrix sequels. She eventually landed on George Lucas\u2019 radar when he was casting for the final prequel film, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. Rather than having O\u2019Reilly play a background character with no lines, he offered her Mon Mothma, the Senator from\u00a0Chandrila who was one of the Rebellion\u2019s leaders in the original trilogy. Stepping into Caroline Blakiston\u2019s shoes was no joke, but O\u2019Reilly accepted the challenge and got to work.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, O\u2019Reilly\u2019s only scene, which saw her character meet with Padm\u00e9 Amidala, Bail Organa, and other characters to plant the seeds of the Rebellion, didn\u2019t make the final cut. Revenge of the Sith was overstuffed as is<\/a>, and Lucas thought that another scene about bureaucracy would take away from the action. A blow like that could derail many people\u2019s careers and potentially send them down a different career path. But O\u2019Reilly isn\u2019t like most actors, as she\u2019s always ready to put her head down and wait for her next oppurtunity.<\/p>\n

Mon Mothma Has Reached New Heights Under Genevieve O\u2019Reilly\u2019s Care<\/p>\n

\"Genevieve<\/p>\n

Despite Lucas selling Star Wars to Disney, a reboot wasn\u2019t in the cards. The House of Mouse decided to double down on what made the franchise great, which meant exploring the conflict between the Empire and Rebellion even further. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, a movie about a band of rebels stealing the plans for the first Death Star, got the green light, and Mothma had to be part of the story. Even though O\u2019Reilly never officially played Mothma, she got the nod, playing the character at a time in her life when she was very reluctant to act, not wanting to give Emperor Palpatine and his cronies an advantage.<\/p>\n

Getting to bring Mothma to life, even if it was only in a few scenes, was probably a career highlight for O\u2019Reilly. However, her journey was only just beginning. She voiced the character in the animated series Star Wars Rebels and was also one of the stars of the Disney+ show Star Wars: Andor<\/a>. The latter, in particular, allowed O\u2019Reilly to show off her acting chops, as Mothma constantly found herself in difficult spots in the early days of the Rebellion. There wasn\u2019t a scene that she appeared in that was worth skipping, especially in Season 2, which dedicated two entire arcs to Mothma\u2019s story. <\/p>\n

With Andor now over, Mothma\u2019s future in the franchise is up in the air. It just doesn\u2019t seem like Lucasfilm is going to spend much more time exploring the years between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Fortunately, the character is just as important in the New Republic era, which Ahsoka and the rest of Dave Filoni\u2019s shows will continue to take place in.<\/p>\n

What do you think? Leave a comment below\u00a0and join the conversation now in the\u00a0ComicBook Forum<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2027 is shaping up to be a significant year for Star Wars. For starters, next year will mark…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,2839,88885,136894,136895,136896,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-356008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-regular-feature","tag-rogue-one-a-star-wars-story","tag-star-wars-andor","tag-star-wars-revenge-of-the-sith","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}