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An unlikely ‘Andor’ adversary is getting more popular by the week

It's nice to see a competent Imperial villain who's actually good at her job.

Andor episode 5
Screengrab from Disney Plus

So far, Andor‘s villains have mostly remained at arm’s length from the heroes. The main antagonist is the Empire itself, with the show giving us a tour of the misery it causes for regular citizens across the galaxy. That’s not to say there aren’t individuals also gunning for Andor: Syril Karn is clearly nursing a grudge against Cassian for the debacle on Ferrix that ruined his career, and Imperial Security Bureau supervisor Dedra Meero is determined to expose the Rebels’ secret plans.

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Denise Gough is great as Dedra, too, and expect fireworks when Diego Luna’s title hero inevitably ends up on her radar Even though she’s a cold-blooded Imperial true believer, her steely gaze, perfect hairdo, and perpetually sour-faced expression are really doing it for some Star Wars fans.

Others point to her as a rare competent Imperial villain. Traditionally, Star Wars has had a problem with the Empire either being ludicrously arrogant, incompetent to the point of farce, or simply evil pantomime villains with zero depth:

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Others say Andor is a great example of the “banality of evil”:

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We don’t want her to win, but it’s nice to see her clowning on other Imperials:

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Others point out that it’s easy to root for her once you know she voices a key character in The Witcher III:

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Let’s not lose sight of the fact she’s a space Nazi though:

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Dedra is likely to stick around throughout Andor‘s two seasons, and as it looks like she’s about to make a breakthrough in discovering the Rebel plans, things are likely to hot up soon. So far we’ve only seen her in the ISB base on Coruscant, but we’re hoping she’s going to show us that she’s as efficient in the field as she is behind a desk. Watch out Cassian!