The Star Wars franchise has had a ton of terrifying and powerful villains in its movies, all of whom have been remembered throughout pop culture over the years with Darth Vader setting the bar high. Joining the long list in Andor will be Denise Gough’s Dedra Meero, who will be paired up with Kyle Soller’s Syril Karn.
Dedra Meero is a high-ranking Imperial officer hell-bent on capturing Cassian Andor, she’s also going to be the newest addition of villains for the Star Wars franchise. Gough explains the dynamics of her character in much greater detail in a recent interview, and she’s pretty damn organized.
Andor’s Dedra Meero Is A Proud ISB Officer
Denise Gough’s Dedra Meero is partly influenced by Giancarlo Esposito’s Gus Fring, she also took the “steely elegance” of Jennifer Connely’s character in Snowpiercer. Piecing those two villains into one seems like a recipe for tyranny, but that’s not everything that the character has to offer in Tony Gilroy‘s Andor.
During an interview with Kyle Soller (who plays Syril Karn),Gough further detailed all the aspects of the new Imperial officer villain who will be causing a lot of trouble for Cassian Andor and his Rebel Alliance mates in the first 12-season episode-
“Dedra, when we meet her she’s working for the ISB and she’s so proud to be doing that, but she’s surrounded by what she considers to be quite inept men mostly. Well, no all men really. And they seem to be missing what she can see.”
Meero’s ambitions make the possibility of her ever being on the good side unrealistic, says Gough-
“I think for Dedra, she is super ambitious. So I don’t think you could ever have considered that if Dedra had used her powers for good. I don’t think she was ever going to go down that route.”
The new villain pretty much has a superiority complex too, evident in her dismissal of her male colleagues to achieve her own goals-
“She’s surrounded by lazy, slouching, kind of corner-cutting boys. And she doesn’t like it. So she’s gonna climb the ranks at whatever cost to everyone else.”
All these details for the character are shaping up to be very promising. Here’s to hoping that Gough’s Dedra Meero and Soller’s Syril Karn are able to live up to the name of the Galactic Empire’s wickedness in Andor.
Denise Gough Reminds Female Fans To Be Wary Of Support For Andor’s Dedra Meero
Villains are never meant to be idolized, no matter how cool they look because at the end of the day, they’re the bad bunch against a good bunch (the heroes).
This is exactly what Denise Gough wants to point out that regardless of how well her character does on screen as a powerful woman, everyone must remember that Meero is part of a fascist regime.
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In the very same interview with Screen Rant, Gough followed up on her explanation of what type of villain Meero is, pointing out the confusing conflict that might arise out of supporting a villain who is definitely on the bad side of history in the SW universe-
“I think also what I love is that what’s really conflicting about Dedra is that it’s a new thing isn’t it to have a woman in this world in this part. So a part of you and I know that for a lot of women watching it, they’ll be like, ‘Oh my god! Go sister! You’re doing so well.’ Then you have to remember, ‘Oh! She’s a fascist.’”
“On the one hand, you want a woman in a man’s world to succeed, but it’s like no it’s the wrong world though. We don’t want that. She should make you feel slightly uncomfortable at your alliances.”
While it is quite hard to live up to the reputation of a villain like Darth Vader, Star Wars fans can only hope that Dedra Meero is able to creat a huge influence in pop culture as a villain, much like the inspirations she draws from- Gus Fring’s composure and Melanie Cavill’s elegance.
Andor will release on Disney+ on September 21, 2022.
Source: Bounding Into Comics
