The success of The Mandalorian has prompted Disney to produce a number of live-action Star Wars spin-offs. With the upcoming release of the Obi-Wan and Cassian Andor series on Disney+, another character deserving of a series is Mon Mothma. The leader of the Rebel Alliance is an underrated character who has made appearances throughout the franchise. She served as a senator during the Galactic Republic, was integral to the formation of the Rebel Alliance and was the first elected Chancellor of the New Republic.
The importance of Mon Mothma to the Star Wars universe cannot be overstated, yet surprisingly little is known about Mothma herself. A series featuring Mon Mothma has the potential to greatly expand the scope of the rebel conflict and the politics surrounding it. But it would also have to answer the question of who Mon Mothma is at her core.
Mon Mothma first appeared in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi as the political leader of the Rebel Alliance. She briefed the Rebels about the second Death Star and told them that the Emperor himself was overseeing the construction of the superweapon. While her screen time in the movie was brief, Mon Mothma was quite a notable character in the film.
She was the only female character with lines in the original trilogy besides Leia and Aunt Beru. Though she never garnered the same popularity as Leia, she was a strong character in her own right. Mothma was a compassionate leader who felt a heavy responsibility for the loss of her agents. The solemn look she gave as she reported the fate of the Bothan spies shows how much each individual death impacted her.
A younger version of Mon Mothma also appeared in The Clone Wars; she served as a senator representing her home planet Chandrila in the Galactic Senate. Though she was a Loyalist senator, Mothma feared Chancellor Palpatine's rising power and the increased militarization of the Republic. Alongside Padme and Bail Organa, she tried to curtail Palpatine's influence in the Senate, but their efforts were in vain.
In the waning days of the war, after numerous failed attempts to restore the emergency powers granted to the Chancellor back to the senate, Mon Mothma and Bail Organa secretly formed an alliance to restore the Republic. Many of the scenes featuring Mon Mothma and the Rebel Alliance subplot were originally intended for the film Revenge of the Sith, but sadly those scenes were deleted from the finished movie.
During the events of Rebels, Mothma left her position in the senate after publicly denouncing the Emperor, and took charge of the meager Rebel Alliance. Her impassioned speech aboard the Ghost unites the various rebel cells and resistance movements across the galaxy into a unified group. Yet, a common critique of her leadership was her pragmatism and her unwillingness to take decisive action. At the beginning of the rebellion, Mothma didn't want to engage in an open war with the Empire and prioritized attrition. Her methods didn't win her favor with Saw Gerrera, who labeled her a coward for fighting on the Empire's terms rather than her own.
Mothma's long-term strategy differed from Gerrera's extremist tactics, which utilized torture on prisoners and harmed civilians. Mothma wasn't afraid to take action, but she didn't want to put the Rebels at risk while her allies in the senate were still seeking a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Though Gerrera's methods were more decisive, his rebel group quickly plateaued and lost support from the people due to its terrorist actions. While Mothma's strategy may have been slow going, it was ultimately her leadership that brought people to the Rebel's side. And as the war heightened, she and Admiral Ackbar were the ones that guided the Rebels to winning.
While Mon Mothma will appear in Disney+'s Cassian Andor series, which is set five years before the events of Rogue One, a show about Mothma could be set during the immediate aftermath of the Clone Wars. At that point in the canon, Mothma is still a senator and the fallen Republic is slowly transitioning towards imperial rule. The Empire seen in the original trilogy didn't happen overnight. The process of Palpatine fully cementing his power and the official abandonment of the senate took years. During this time, the Empire viciously cracked down on resistance movements and implemented policies that greatly tightened its grip on the galaxy.
A series set during this era could be a political thriller that tracks the regime's increasingly tyrannical rule. As a senator, Mon Mothma is desperately trying to protect Chandrila and safeguard civil liberties across the galaxy. Yet, as the Empire continues its oppression, Mothma is moved further to the Rebel cause and begins formulating the alliance. This potential series would focus on the early days of the Rebel Alliance when there were still a bunch of bickering rebel cells instead of a unified group. While Rebels tackled similar subject matter, this would be set much earlier in the timeline and focus on the core worlds. The themes could be how rebellions are formed and the harsh realities of people living under authoritarian rule.
Another setting that might be good for a Mon Mothma series would be the era of the New Republic. Mothma was elected Chancellor of the new government and was responsible for the disarmament that significantly reduced the size of the military. This decision greatly impacted the events of the sequel trilogy, leading to the creation of the Resistance and the bolstering of the fringe First Order. Mothma was always against increased militarization and wanted to restore peace to the Republic. A series focusing on the uneasy peace between the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant could be interesting; the context of the events of The Force Awakens definitely needs more explanation.
Mon Mothma is beloved by Star Wars fans due to her involvement in the major events of the series. She is a character rich with history and deserves a spin-off that sees her as the hero of her own story. Yet, whether or not Mon Mothma gets her own series, she'll always be a favorite in the eyes of many fans.