At the Imperial Security Bureau, Dedra faces resistance (not to be confused with the future Resistance) from her colleague Blevin (Ben Bailey Smith). He’s territorial about his jurisdiction and doesn’t want to let her investigate what she believes to be an organized Rebel conspiracy spread out across multiple sectors. Yet the initiative Dedra shows ultimately catches the eye of their superior, Major Partagaz, played by Anton Lesser (known for his role as Qyburn on “Game of Thrones.”)
Dedra prevails in her efforts, and she even seems to be motivated to do right, in a sense, and preserve order across the galaxy, as opposed to just being driven by a desire for career advancement. However, this soon leads her to the torture room with Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona). It’s here that Dedra shows her sadistic side and reminds us that she’s still one of the bad guys — or gals. As Gough put it:
“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.”
Dedra definitely makes the viewer’s loyalties shift back and forth, but that’s part of what makes her character and “Andor” as a whole so compelling. The penultimate episode of the show’s first season streams next Wednesday on Disney+.
