Star Wars: Ahsoka Confirms SPOILER Becomes Chancellor of the New Republic

The third episode of Star Wars: Ahsoka is now streaming on Disney+, and it sees Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) beginning to train Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) in the ways of the Force. Ahsoka's first two episodes saw multiple characters from Star Wars animation coming to life in live-action, and fans were thrilled by the show's many easter eggs and nods to Star Wars Rebels. However, the series still has plenty of nods to the original Star Wars trilogy. In addition to being the first Disney+ show to bring back the iconic Star Wars scroll (but with a twist), Ahsoka also features an iconic ship from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. Turns out, that's not the only big nod to the franchise's third film. Warning: Spoilers Ahead! Mon Mothma was originally introduced in Return of the Jedi, and she served as a politician and revolutionary leader who was a major part of the Rebel Alliance. The character has been seen many times since her debut, and now she's back as the Chancellor of the New Republic. 

Caroline Blakiston first played Mon Mothma in Return of the Jedi, and Genevieve O'Reilly took over the role in a cut scene from Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. O'Reilly had the chance to play the role again in Rogue One as well as voicing the character in Star Wars: Rebels, and she came back again last year in Andor. This week, she made a surprise return in a huge new role. Fans who have read Star Wars books know that Mon Mothma eventually took on the role that belonged to Palpatine before he destroyed the Rebulic and oversaw the Empire. However, this is the first time she has been seen as the Chancellor of the New Republic in live-action.

While Mon Mothma will undoubtedly be a more just and honest ruler than her predecessor, the New Republic is still frustrating their biggest allies. In the new Ahsoka episode, "Time To Fly," Hera Snydulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) requests aid in her search for Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen). While Mon Mothma supports Hera, she is overruled by the other senators who believe Hera is only trying to find the whereabouts of Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi). 

Genevieve O'Reilly Explains the Development of Mon Mothma:

Mon Mothma played a huge role in the first season of Andor, and O'Reilly spoke Entertainment Weekly about further developing the character.

"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. "[We learn] what her life is like, what she has to wrestle with, what are the dangers to her life, what it costs to be her. Tony's [Gilroy] writing is so intricate and so taut. It lives in this world of the spy genre, of a sociopolitical drama, and yet it's set within a Star Wars world. So it feels universal and intimate all at once."  

"I was always interested in her," O'Reilly said of Blakiston's original performance, "and each time I go to play her, I go back to that scene." She added, "You can see when Caroline does that in that scene, for me, there was always a pain at the heart of it ... You could see that she was carrying a pain, and I was really curious about what that was. What has happened in this woman's life? What has it cost to be her? What are the sacrifices that she has had to make along the way to be that leader of a rebellion?"

"We see her talking to senators, and then we meet her at home with her husband," O'Reilly teased of Andor. "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."

Stay tuned for more Ahsoka updates and breakdowns.