Spoilers for Andor season 1 episode 9, "Nobody's Listening!" below!
Andor actor Denise Gough says fans will not cheer for her character anymore. The latest entry in the long-running Star Wars franchise stars Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, the smuggler-turned-Rebel spy who led the Alliance to their first major victory against the tyrannical Galactic Empire in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Set five years before the events of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, the new Disney+ series will chronicle how he became the battle-hardened resistance captain as the Rebellion finds its footing and grows into the organized military force that will eventually overthrow the Empire.
Andor sees the return of several familiar Star Wars characters, such as Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly), and Colonel Wulff Yularen (Malcolm Sinclair). The show also introduces Dedra Meero (Gough), a motivated officer within the prestigious Imperial Security Bureau (ISB), into Star Wars' pantheon of villains. Following Cassian and Luthen Rael's (Stellan Skarsgård) daring escape from the industrial planet Ferrix, Dedra uncovers a connection between a larger rebellion and the attack on the Aldhani Imperial garrison. As Dedra gains full support from her ISB superiors, she increases the severity of her tactics, torturing Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) and allowing the murder of suspects.
While speaking at the Lucca Comics & Games convention in Italy (via We Got This Covered), Gough admits that fans will turn away from Dedra as Andor continues. The actor explains that show creator and head writer Tony Gilroy introduced the character in a more sympathetic manner as Dedra struggled to find her voice in the ISB. However, as the officer continues to pursue Cassian and the Rebels, her dedication to the fascist regime will become more apparent. Read what Gough teases below:
Tony wrote the first scenes for us to cheer for Dedra, but in the end you don't do it anymore. She is not just a woman in a men’s world, but a fascist in a world of fascists. It was important to see that power corrodes women as much as men.
Will Dedra Capture Cassian?
Since the character's introduction in Andor episode 4, Dedra has shown her cunning and tenacity as one of two female members of the ISB council. Going off very little, she has managed to connect multiple thefts of Imperial technology to a Rebel leader dubbed Axis and the Aldhani attack. As a result of undeniable persistence, it is only a matter of time before she tracks down her targets' whereabouts.
Although Cassian is imprisoned in the work center on Narkina 5 under an assumed name, Andor episode 9 showed the smuggler has no intention of staying under lock-and-key for long, as he is devising a plan to escape. News of such a daring getaway would lead Dedra right to Cassian and possibly to a fateful, face-to-face meeting. However, with Cassian proving his worth yet again, breaking out of a seemingly impenetrable prison, Luthen may no longer wish the smuggler dead and may even come to his aid with the help of Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay). With only three more episodes left in Andor season 1, audiences do not have to wait much longer to see if Dedra will finally succeed in her mission.
Source: We Got This Covered