With season 2 of Star Wars: Andor currently in production and the long wait for Ahsoka now begun, we can allow ourselves some time to ponder on what that second season will bring, and during Celebration Europe, Yahoo had the opportunity to catch up with Kyle Soller and Denise Gough to chew over their characters Dedra Meera and Syril Kaan and where the second season might take them.
Dedra Meero actor Denise Gough is “super excited” for her character to go “full-on fascist”. We’ve seen Meero, a lieutenant and supervisor for the Imperial Security Bureau, throw herself into torture with gusto in Season 1, so what precisely can we expect in Season 2?
“Oh, just more,” said Gough. “In Season One, I had to lay down the Dedra that maybe people would kind of like and think, ‘Sister, you’re the woman in a man’s world.’ And then you go, ‘No, I’m a fascist’. So now [Dedra is] just full-on fascist. Now, I don’t have to pretend I’m a woman in a man’s world or anything like that. I just do full Dedra.”
And what of that thing with Kyle Soller’s Syril Karn? Is there a romantic spark that could ignite?
“What I will say is that there’s a version of all of these characters that Tony has written that could go a really obvious way,” said Gough. “But our show is not written by people who write ‘obvious’. So whatever happens with Syril and Dedra, it’s going to be weirder than you think.”
Soller added, “There’s a huge question mark over that meeting in that little cupboard in the riot, in episode 12.
“I think they both understand that they need each other, and they need something from each other. And that they may be stronger together, in terms of they share an objective, which is Andor. And yet, this is the Star Wars universe where… nothing is easy. And everything is fractious, there’s friction in every single relationship, and there’s already an imbalance of power.
“That’s what Tony does, writes these beautiful characters – they’re so multifaceted – that are all based around an imbalance of power. That gets explored pretty deeply between Syril and Dedra.”
Syril is a quirky character that has become a firm favourite among fans. As with a certain high-profile Star Wars character, you might even sense some good in him – even if he does come across at times like textbook serial killer material.
“He hasn’t known who he is for so long. And I think in Season 2, he finally starts to feel like he knows who he is,” said Soller. “He individuates his own experience. Part of me wants to go back to his childhood. Part of me wants to see what he could accomplish once he just actually grows up and gets out of his own way; does some healing on himself.”
Is there good in him?
“This is the question, Where does he lie? It might get answered in Season 2.”
He’s got to break away from his domineering mother first, though, right?
“One of the questions I wanted to know before filming Season 2 was does he move out of his mother’s apartment? That question gets fully answered,” said Soller. “But his relationship with his mum gets explored in — I didn’t even know Tony can do this — in a completely different way. And in a way that is incredibly relatable to modern life … In Season 2, Syril grows up. So that relationship with his mother needs to shift. And it does in an interesting way.”
- Hardcover Book
- Lucasfilm Ltd. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 240 Pages - 02/20/2024 (Publication Date) - Dark Horse Books (Publisher)
