Denise Gough plays Imperial Officer Dedra Meero in the upcoming Disney+ Andor series, scheduled to arrive on September 21st, and in an exclusive interview with Total Film she discusses how her arc will address gender politics in the age of Palpatine.
And happily, we’re not talking about another Sith sausage party. “I’m definitely on the Dark Side,” grins actor Denise Gough, nodding to her brief but fearsome appearance in the Andor trailer as Imperial officer Dedra Meero. Excited to be joining Star Wars’ growing roster of female baddies, the two-time Olivier winner describes a shot where she dons her Imperial-issue jacket, “and as the camera pulls round, you see it’s a woman in that outfit. And that felt great, great, great.”
Gough’s arc will address gender politics in the age of Palpatine in a timely fashion: “As a woman, in that world, for her to advance in any way, she has to be like 10 times better than anyone else in that room. And that felt really relevant to everything we’re going through right now.” As such, she believes viewers will be “on [Dedra’s] side”. To a point, anyway… “It’s a clever thing to do, to show you how hard she has to work,” reckons Gough. “It kind of brings you in to feel cheerleader-y for her – and then you’ll be like, ‘She’s a psycho!’ So be careful supporting her…”
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