Andor stars explain why their "villains" are nothing like classic Star Wars baddies

Star Wars villains are, of course, iconic, but they tend to be clear cut baddies, sworn to the dark side. However, the new Disney+ series, Andor, is taking a different direction with their villains, as the show explores their good and bad sides.

Focusing on the titular character from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, a rebel who isn't afraid to do the dirty work, Andor's antagonists Dedra and Syril also sit in the grey area in between the dark and light side.

Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, actors Denise Gough and Kyle Soller argue that their characters aren't actually villains, at least in the eyes of their characters.

"How can you sustain 12 episodes with just a baddie?" Gough said. "Like, if I had just been playing a baddie, I don’t think I’d have been that interested in doing the job."

Related: Andor includes fallen Jedi reference you might have missed

Soller added: "When we were talking about Syril to begin with, I was like, 'Where does this guy end up?' And I’m trying to plot out the journey and the line. [Creator Tony Gilroy] goes, 'He could end up here, he could end up there – I don’t know, man.'

"And I was like, 'Wow, that’s so cool. You’re allowing me to sit within that space of not knowing, and to be in a kind of state of becoming Syril.' He’s trying to figure out where he’s going, and who he is, and where his allegiances lie. Is he pushing the envelope too far? You know, Tony doesn’t write two dimensions. He writes humans. He writes people."

Soller added that Gilroy has tried to humanise these characters and revealed more about how the Empire has shaped them, compared to other movies in the franchise.

"I think the Star Wars films of old are incredible [but] you do get these not-fully character-explored villains," Soller continued, "And I think Tony is giving an insight to a side of the Empire that we just haven’t seen before: the bureaucratic corporate sector that makes it so real to life. It’s kind of crazy. Dedra and Syril both exist in different aspects of that."

Related: Star Wars' The Acolyte show casts The Good Place star

"I asked, 'OK, what’s up with [Dedra]? Is she eventually going to fall in love and move to a house in the suburbs?'" Gough continued. "Because that happens with so many women.

"I felt like, 'OK, is this a woman that I get to really show the effects of power, and ambition, and the need for control? Can I really go to the wall with this?' instead of, at some point, having to go, 'Actually, I’ve decided that she’s really good, and she feels really bad about all her bad behaviour.'

"And [Tony] went, 'Nah, you can go to the wall.' I thought, 'Oh, great.' I just get to show this woman who is as hungry as any man is in that space for power and control, and then just go with that. And that, to me, it was really exciting, because often we’re asked to apologise.

Related: Andor star explains episode three’s big betrayal

"I think it’s really great to have a woman in that space, doing that, and showing that it doesn’t matter what gender you are. You can be an asshole. An asshole is an asshole.

"Not that she’s an asshole. I really like her. You can be a fascist. You can be a really hard-lined, crazy fascist as a woman, too, so let’s not make it about just being a girl."

Gough also teased that, as the series goes on, we'll see more of the duo "staging their own rebellion within the Empire".

Andor is going to tell its story over 24 episodes, but the current season is only 12 episodes long, and season 2 might be a while off.

Andor is now streaming on Disney+. New episodes drop weekly.

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Joe Anderton

Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.

David Opie

After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival. 

In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.

David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.

Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends. 

As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound. 

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