"Do I Have To Stick To This F***ing Speech?": ANDOR Showrunner On "Minimizing" STAR WARS REBELS In Season 2

"Do I Have To Stick To This F***ing Speech?": ANDOR Showrunner On "Minimizing" STAR WARS REBELS In Season 2

Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy has commented on making a big change to Star Wars canon with the show's latest episode, even though that meant "minimizing" what we've seen in the animated Star Wars Rebels.

By JoshWilding - May 08, 2025 05:05 AM EST
Filed Under: Cassian Andor
Source: EW (via SFFGazette.com)

In episode 9 of Andor season 2, "Welcome to the Rebellion," Mon Mothma delivers a rousing speech to the Senate. In that, she challenges the Empire's account of what happened on Ghorman, and concludes by declaring, "The monster who will come for us all soon enough is Emperor Palpatine." 

Cassian Andor then helps her escape the ISB agents out to silence her, and Mon heads to Yavin 4 to join the rest of the Rebellion. 

It's an incredible hour of television, but somewhat contradicts Star Wars canon; in the animated Star Wars Rebels, Mon makes a different speech and broadcasts it across the Galaxy as she's transported to the Rebel stronghold by Gold Squadron.

Talking to Entertainment Weekly (via SFFGazette.com), showrunner Tony Gilroy says that he and writer Dan Gilroy felt constrained by having to adhere to Rebels' version of events, "We are hijacking canon," he admits. "In canon, she's rescued by the Gold Squadron and the speech that they gave in the cartoon, which was a canonical show, [is on that ship]. And Danny's like, 'Do I have to stick to this f--ing speech?'"

Rather than disregarding that show's inspiring message from Mon, they figured that if Cassian left her at his old safe house, Luthen Rael could arrange her transport with Gold Squadron (meaning she delivered a second speech after the first). 

Gilroy is aware that Andor has lessened the impact of that Star Wars Rebels scene. "In a really sneaky way, we're minimizing what they did in Star Wars Rebels, but we're keeping it consistent," he acknowledges. "We're just saying you don't really know the whole story of what happened." 

Genevieve O'Reilly says of the speech, "She has been working for the Rebellion deeply and intrinsically, and she's been vital to the Rebellion. But that is the moment that she crosses that rubicon and she crosses it with Cassian. That felt beautiful, that it is with him, given where we go in Rogue One. But it's that there's no turning back at that point. There is no going back."

For those of you who missed it, here's Mon Mothma's speech in its entirety (you can find our full episode recap here). 

"Fellow senators, friends, colleagues, allies, adversaries, I stand before you this morning with a heavy heart," she says. "I stand this morning with a difficult message. I believe we are in crisis. The distance between what is said and what is known to be true has become an abyss. Of all the things at risk, the loss of an objective reality is perhaps the most dangerous."

"The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil. When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped form our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever monster screams the loudest. This chamber’s hold on the truth was finally lost on the Ghorman plaza. What took place yesterday, what happened yesterday on Ghorman was unprovoked genocide. Yes, genocide. And that truth has been exiled from this chamber. And the monster screaming the loudest, the monster we helped create, the monster who will come for us all soon enough, is Emperor Palpatine."

Nine episodes of Andor season 2 are now streaming on Disney+.

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kylo0607
kylo0607 - 5/8/2025, 5:24 AM
Man, Episodes 8 & 9 were something else.

Peak Television.

And Andor standing at the entrance and forming the Rebellion symbol... Perfection.

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UnderBelly
UnderBelly - 5/8/2025, 6:06 AM
@kylo0607 - Oh Snap! Good eye!

What an episode! I'm not fully sold though on the end of Bix's arc, because the Cassian we've been shown will always find a way to follow her after loosing his sister ( from what's happened over the last 3-4 years in their story). Maybe the next and last time jump will show how that settles with him.

O'Reilly's Mon Mothma though...oooo weeeee! She should definitely be crowned THE Hottie (with brains) in the Live action star wars universe! That awful wig CANNOT sully her shine. What a beautiful woman.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 5/8/2025, 5:43 AM
I rather see them try to work around existing events and ''hijack'' the moment than just doing new stuff (yes, I'm looking at you Cobb Vanth in the Mandalorian and Kanan Jarrus in the Bad Batch treating written media as secondary canon).
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 5/8/2025, 7:21 AM
Wait so... is there a new canon or is Andor non-canon or is Rebels no longer canon or what? Does Kathleen Kennedy even know or care about any of this?

Star Wars has nobody at the wheel it would seem.

And forget Dave Filoni he already started to contradict EU canon in Clone Wars when he adapted one of the Clone Wars comics.
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PatchesOhulihan
PatchesOhulihan - 5/8/2025, 8:36 AM
@ObserverIO - "Rather than disregarding that show's inspiring message from Mon, they figured that if Cassian left her at his old safe house, Luthen Rael could arrange her transport with Gold Squadron (meaning she delivered a second speech after the first)." So they're saying she gave both speeches, keeping canon intact.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 5/8/2025, 8:38 AM
@PatchesOhulihan - Well then... okay I'll let them off then. I won't shoot them today.
PatchesOhulihan
PatchesOhulihan - 5/8/2025, 8:39 AM
@ObserverIO - User Comment Image
Ojeet78
Ojeet78 - 5/8/2025, 7:41 AM
What an incredible show. I dont think it minimized Rebels. On the contrary it elevated Mothma's character and her personal struggles. The journey it took to get her there was more than worth it.
MisterBones
MisterBones - 5/8/2025, 8:39 AM
Show is ACTUAL CINEMA

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