Denise Gough’s Imperial Security Bureau agent Dedra Meero is one of the more distinct characters on “Andor”.
It’s a series that builds its strength on the ambiguous nature of its characters, Dedra being one as she’s relatable at first with her work struggles in a male-dominated environment – even if said work involves her being employed by the Empire.
Speaking with StarWars.com the other day, Gough went into detail on Dedra’s surprisingly complicated sense of morality and how she wants the audience to approach her character:
“I want you to be very conflicted about your feelings about her. The great thing about Dedra, and what I love about playing her, is that… when I first started playing her, I was sitting in this room surrounded by these men – a lot of men who weren’t doing their jobs properly. And so I was really rooting for Dedra. You’re really on her side. And then she does certain things that you just think, ‘Okay, so maybe I can’t support that.'”
Dedra has to deal with her tetchy colleague Blevin (Ben Bailey Smith), who tries to block her investigations, even as her work comes to the attention of Major Partagaz (Anton Lesser). She may have the desire to do right, yet things have turned darker as the series has progressed. Dedra herself is not above a bit of torture, and don’t expect some great big redemption arc for her either:
“For people watching, initially, you really want [Dedra] to succeed, because you just see a woman really striving for success. But then what you have to sit with is, once you get on board with her at the beginning, just because she’s a woman in a man’s world … [she is] just as capable of doing the most heinous things for power. Somebody said to me the other day, ‘Please don’t redeem her.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, that’s so good.’ Don’t apologize. Let her be just as ambitious as the most villainous of men and color in all the shades so that everyone’s conflicted when they’re watching.”
The comments come as the second last episode of the first season is set to air this coming Wednesday on the Disney+ service.
