- "I don't like wasting time. But one must be careful. You pull in the net and the easy thing, the quick thing, is to assume that everything you've dragged to shore is a fish. I have colleagues who believe that's the prudent mindset in defense of the Empire. But I take a more nuanced view. I try."
- ―Dedra Meero
Dedra Meero was a human female who served as a lieutenant and supervisor on the board of the Galactic Empire's Imperial Security Bureau in its central office. She was born to criminal parents on Coruscant, but was placed in a facility that became an Imperial Kinder-block at the age of three years old. She grew into a polished and methodical individual, and joined the ISB's Enforcement branch. Ever ambitious, she in time transferred to Investigations, where she collected and analyzed evidence from across the galaxy that indicated an ostensibly more organized rebel effort than her superiors and peers suspected. She was fixated on identifying and capturing the central figure of the Axis network, and was eventually granted supervision of the Axis desk by Major Lio Partagaz after a struggle to gain respect and credibility. Meero was supervising the Imperial occupation of Ferrix in 5 BBY in an effort to capture Cassian Andor when a rebel uprising broke out on Rix Road. She was attacked, but was saved from the rioters by Syril Karn, a disgraced former Preox-Morlana deputy inspector who had previously caught her attention and ire.
In 4 BBY, Meero was appointed supervisor of the suppression of Ghorman by Director of Advanced Weapons Research Orson Krennic as part of the Ghorman project, and begrudgingly yielded the Axis desk to her former attendant, Heert. She had by this point entered a romantic relationship with Karn, and installed him in the Imperial Bureau of Standards field office to further the Imperial agenda for the planet. Though the Ghorman Massacre occurred in 2 BBY under her direction just as planned, Karn was killed in the event. By the Galactic Civil War, Meero came to be aware of the nature of the secret construction of the DS-1 Orbital Battle Station. In spite of bureaucratic incompetencies in the ISB, Meero also discovered that the leader of the Axis network was Luthen Rael. However, the reckless tactics Meero used in attempting to capture Rael resulted in his suicide attempt and her arrest. Meero was mistakenly implicated as a rebel agent due to her illegal possession of classified knowledge regarding the Death Star; this information had recently been leaked to the Axis network by covert Rebel spy Lonni Jung, who was installed in the ISB and had stolen it from Meero's office. Meero was interrogated by Director Krennic and imprisoned, disgraced, and put in an Imperial labor prison facility.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Dedra Meero was a human[1] female[2] born on the city planet Coruscant[1] to criminal parents who were arrested when she was three. She was raised in a facility[4] that would later be known as an Imperial Kinder-block, within which she was trained.[7]
Investigating a theft[]
A turbulent briefing[]
- "What do we do in this building? Why are we here? Anyone?"
"We're here to further security objectives by collecting intelligence, providing useful analysis, and conducting effective covert action, sir."
"Very good, Dedra. That is verbatim from the ISB mission statement, and wrong." - ―Partagaz and Meero
During the reign of the Galactic Empire, Meero served with the military rank of lieutenant in the Imperial Security Bureau. She was part of the Enforcement branch[3] before transferring to Investigations.[8] Eventually, Meero was promoted to an ISB Supervisor in charge of two sectors, including the locations of Steergard and Sev Tok, and joined the ranks of the ISB Board, a collection of different supervisors who delivered informative reports from their respective sectors to Major Lio Partagaz in the ISB Central Office building on the Imperial capital planet Coruscant.[3]
Meero takes an interest in an item related to the incident at Ferrix.
In 5 BBY,[9] Meero attended one such meeting in the ISB Central Office. After berating Captain Lagret for the captain's mistakes, Partagaz opened a question to the room about the nature of the Imperial Security Bureau, to which Meero responded with the verbatim portion of the organization's mission statement. Partagaz emphasized her response and dismissed it as wrong. When Supervisor Blevin reported the status of the Ferrix incident and mentioned the theft of an Imperial N-S9 Starpath Unit, Meero used her datapad to inquire about it.[3]
Jurisdictional conflict[]
- "You've been here, what, just over a year? You might want to steady the ladder before you start climbing."
"I'm not looking for career advice." - ―Supervisors Blevin and Meero
Seeking jurisdiction over the matter, Meero discovers a link to technology stolen from her sector.
Following the briefing, Meero was in her office with Attendant Heert searching for more details on the theft of the Starpath unit, in order to establish jurisdiction over what happened on Ferrix. As the device had been stolen from the Steergard Naval Yard, which was under her jurisdiction, Meero asked Heert to send a request to Blevin's office to get involved in the situation.[3]
When the request was denied, Meero went to Blevin's office to discuss the matter in person while her colleague indicated that he had work to do and suggested that she book an appointment. After Meero insisted on her jurisdiction in the matter due to the device being stolen from Steergard, Blevin argued that Ferrix was in his sector and accused the supervisor of wanting to use the moment to rise through the ranks. Meero claimed that she did not need his career advice, and after Blevin denied her request twice, finding herself stuck, she decided to take the matter up with Major Partagaz.[3]
Both Meero and Blevin created intra-office friction and took their arguments to Partagaz.
Meero and Blevin met in the meeting room and took their differences on the matter to Partagaz. When Meero brought up the theft of the Starpath unit and her claims of jurisdiction over the Ferrix incident, Blevin accused her of wanting to increase her portfolio and recommended that she take care of her own bases. An instinctive Meero asserted to Partagaz that there were multiple indications of organized insurgency regarding the theft of Imperial artifacts and coordinated attacks in multiple sectors, with three previous case files on her desk indicating a pattern. However, Partagaz requested Meero provide factual evidence, which she could not. Partagaz thus recommended that both of them confine their activities to the sectors that were assigned to them.[3]
After dispatching Blevin, the major told Meero that he knew that working with Blevin could be a challenge, but nonetheless, his quarterly reports were delivered unlike Meero's. Partagaz told Meero that a high performance was expected from her for an exceptionally promising career within the bureau, advising Meero to minimize trifles and suggesting more work like her impressive number of detainees at Sev Tok, going so far as to say he may send her more work of that sort. After Partagaz left the room, Meero breathed a sigh of relief.[3]
Never climbing the same fence twice[]
- "I don't know what I'm doing. About any of it."
"Yes, you do. You're on to something." - ―Supervisor Meero and Attendant Heert
Going through reports of recent attacks, Meero still believed that an organized rebellion was brewing.
Meero was walking through the corridors of the ISB headquarters when she saw Blevin walk by with a group of attendees. After discussing a matter regarding Hosnian Prime and its military component, Meero ordered Heert to leave as she did not know the time and it was late. The attendant refused to leave when Meero told him that she didn't know what she was doing about anything. Heert told her that she was following clues, listing events in different locations such as Kessel, Fondor, Jakku, Base Cay, and Steergard. However, Meero agreed with Major Partagaz, who believed that it was too scattered to be organized.[10]
Heert again rebutted and said that Meero did not believe that. The supervisor was fully aware that if she were on the other side, she would disperse the activities and never climb the same fence twice. When the attendant told her that it was too random to be random, Meero asked if they could check two more files each, to which Heert nodded. Taking a stimulant pill with a beverage, the supervisor then resumed her work.[10]
Meero was present when Major Partagaz called an ISB emergency session.
Shortly thereafter, a Rebel infiltration team stole approximately 80 billion credits that were part of an entire sector's quarterly payroll from an Imperial installation on the planet Aldhani.[3] As a result of the robbery, Major Partagaz summoned all the supervisors and their staff to the meeting room. Meero stood with the rest of the staff as the major ordered every Star Sector and Planetary Emergency Retaliation plan to be ready for presentation by midnight, and told them to inform their staff and families that nobody would be leaving.[11]
Supervisor on the rise[]
Taking charge[]
- "I believe Supervisor Blevin is aware I have a documented file ready to go. I believe his accusations here this morning have more to do with self-preservation than any sense of urgency."
- ―Dedra Meero to Lio Partagaz
Following the robbery at Aldhani, Meero was present at a meeting led by Colonel Yularen.
Meero prepared the next day, changing out of uniform, to attend a briefing in the ISB meeting room chaired by Colonel Wullf Yularen. Yularen informed the Imperial staff of the bureau of the countermeasures that would be taken throughout the galaxy in the wake of the Aldhani heist, mentioning, among other things, that he had spoken with Emperor Palpatine to ensure permanent leadership of the ISB in the matter, providing full access to resources for both the Army and Navy, as well as calling an emergency session of the Imperial Senate to grant an amendment that would give full control over matters of surveillance, search and seizure.[12]
With the idea of continuing to gather intelligence, Meero requested reports from different star systems.
The supervisor was not delighted with the new rules imposed by her superiors, as she considered that they were playing directly into the rebels' hands by taking what happened in Aldhani as a simple robbery and not for what it really was: an announcement. Afterwards, Meero walked through the halls of the ISB to the datavault, at the time manned by attendant Felzonis, to request a Multi-Sector Data Blend from two years earlier, which included a report of bases and repair facilities and missing-item reports. When Felzonis asked the star system for which Meero wanted the report, she answered all star systems and that it be confidential to her office.[12]
Later, Meero was at another meeting of ISB supervisors when Major Partagaz reprimanded Supervisor Lonni Jung for failing to keep pace with the neighboring sectors. Partagaz then asked Supervisor Blevin if he was eager that morning. Blevin replied that he didn't have any good news to share either as he wanted to press charges against Meero. Hypothesizing that Meero's overreach on the matter at Ferrix compromised Imperial security, Partagaz asked Meero if she was okay with her integrity being questioned, to which Meero replied that she was interested in hearing what her fellow supervisor had to say about the matter.[12]
Meero was accused of overreaching her actions, but she defended her position.
After a heated crossfire and Blevin's mention of unauthorized access to his sector records, Meero took pity on Partagaz and claimed that she used the Imperial Emergency Act to collect data on multiple sectors without official sanction. She then opened a question to the room as to whether they believed the Rebellion operated around the sector's boundaries, to which Lagret replied that those sectors were created by Partagaz. Meero countered that they were created simply as organizational principles and that the rebels didn't really care about those boundaries. When Partagaz questioned the relevance of his own work, Meero responded that systems change or die. The major asked Meero to elaborate on her thesis, and she replied that there was an organized rebel effort that was acquiring Imperial military components.[12]
Meero thanked Partagaz for the new acquisition to her sector supervision.
Meero pointed out that Blevin knew that she had a report with the information ready to go and that his accusations were more self-preservation than a sense of urgency. Blevin then expressed that she was more urgent as a renegade intelligence with such a lax sense of rules. Partagaz highlighted his suggestion, mentioning Meero's dedication and reassigning the Morlana sector to her jurisdiction before ending the session. Meero walked past him to thank him, to which Partagaz replied to watch her back.[12]
Later, Meero sent her Attendants Heert and Corv to the Imperial Bureau of Standards to bring Syril Karn for interrogation at the ISB central office. When Karn revealed during interrogation that he was unable to read the Ferrix report before being dismissed from his job in the Morlana System, Meero and Heert had to leave to attend another meeting elsewhere in the building. As the pair left, Meero ordered Corv to give Karn a copy of the report to read.[13]
During this meeting, Meero requested additional resources to hunt down Cassian Jeron Andor, who had been identified as one of the two culprits of the Ferrix incident. Among the resources she was hoping to gain were a full planetary comnet, a full tech package from the Ferrix garrison, Series Nine Spectrum surveillance, funding for local agents, and a Code Droid. Although Meero and her staff were unable to identify Luthen Rael, whom they had code-named "Axis" for his centrality in the plot, she was nonetheless determined to hunt him down. Later that day, the ISB officers returned to the interrogation room. Although the former Deputy Inspector believed he could identify Rael's voice if he heard it again, Meero determined that Karn's description of Rael was not of further use. Karn protested that he did well at his job and that he could be a valuable asset to her operations. However, she ordered him to forget that this had ever happened, warning that she would likely not be the one to interrogate him against if he drew the ISB's attention again.[13]
Around a month later, Meero was present on Ferrix in the former hotel that had been converted into the headquarters for the Ferrix garrison. She was present for the torture of Salman Paak and Bix Caleen, alongside Prefect Vanis Tigo and Doctor Gorst.[13] Meero taunted Caleen during the interrogation, before the doctor forced her to listen to the harrowing cries of dying Dizonite children. After the torture, as she left the hotel, Meero ordered Captain Tigo to keep Caleen alive, due to her being a witness who could identify Axis. When asked about Salman Paak, Meero responded that she did not care what happened to him, to which Tigo replied that he wanted to hang the prisoner.[6]
Meero's connection between Axis and the Aldhani heist was corroborated with evidence by Heert.
Upon her return to Coruscant, Meero attended a meeting with Major Partagaz, bringing her ISB Attendants Heert and Corv to the meeting as well. She discussed the list of Imperial equipment that Caleen had given after interrogation, which contained a targeting unit that was recovered from a safehouse operated by a rebel cell associated with Maya Pei. Through Andor's return to Ferrix three days after the Aldhani heist, she connected Axis to the events on Aldhani. When Heert presented statements from two soldiers at the Aldhani Garrison who believed Andor looked similar to one of the rebels, Partagaz responded that the amplified interest made the connection to Aldhani worth following up. Captain Lagret asked why Meero did not question Maarva Andor, to which she cunningly responded that she decided to wait and that she could be used as bait to lure Andor back to Ferrix.[6]
The Kreegyr lead[]
Meero threatened Syril Karn to discourage him from repeatedly waiting outside her workplace.
When arriving to work the next day, Meero was stopped on her way into the central officer building by Syril Karn, who thanked her, believing she had a role in his recent promotion. Meero responded dismissively, and then questioned why Syril was waiting outside her workplace. Under the impression that Karn was stalking her, Meero threatened that if he continued to pursue this, she would have him imprisoned on the Outer Rim. Upon entering her office, Supervisor Meero was met by Attendant Heert, who informed her that Imperial authorities had detained a rebel pilot using a stolen Imperial masking unit, and that Attendant Corv was checking if the unit was off of their list. Meero ordered her aide to send Doctor Gorst to interrogate the prisoner on the Destroyer above Steergard where he was being held. Heert responded that he had already sent Gorst, and asked if she wanted to go as well. She replied that there was no time and dismissed her assistant from the room after congratulating him on his work.[6]
After having remotely interrogated the prisoner, Meero attended a small meeting with Partagaz, her attendant Heert, Lagret, and two of his attendants. During his interrogation, the prisoner claimed that he did not contact anyone during his escape attempt. Heert added that the masking unit had been stolen from the Imperial naval yard in Lozash the previous year. Supervisor Lonni Jung and his attendant entered the room, having arrived late due to being offsite. Partagaz informed them about the capture of the rebel pilot, who was part of Anto Kreegyr's rebel cell. The major informed Jung that he believed that Kreegyr was unaware of the pilot's capture, and that the prisoner had revealed a planned raid on the Spellhaus Imperial power station.[6]
When Jung warned that the pilot would be counted missing soon by not showing up on Kafrene, Lagret proposed destroying the ship and making it seem accidental. Meero proposed the idea of fouling the ship, damaging a mechanical component and planting the pilot's body in the cockpit. She suggested staging the accident quickly and allowing the ship to drift into traffic near Kafrene. Agreeing, Partagaz ordered her to make it top priority and to act carefully, leaving no trace. As Meero and Heert left the conference room, the major ordered the other Supervisors to schedule a meeting with Military Intelligence about the planned raid on Spellhaus.[6]
Meero with Major Partagaz and Supervisor Jung
Meero was in the conference room when Supervisor Lagret confirmed the trap set for Anto Kreegyr's men on Kafrene. Her assistant, Heert, handed her a datapad, from which she read the situation report to Major Partagaz. Meero mentioned the details of the supposed mechanical failure implanted. Supervisor Lonni Jung suggested Partagaz go ahead with a routine inspection, assuming Kreegyr was watching their movements.[14]
After the trap had been sprung on Anto Kreegyr's men, Meero expressed concern and frustration about Military Intelligence not taking any prisoners when they could have done so, as the captives could have had information valuable to the Empire. Partagaz stated that the point of the massacre was to "wipe the taste of Aldhani from the Emperor's mouth,"[15] referring to the Aldhani raid, where over 80 million credits were stolen from the Aldhani Garrison by rebel operatives, among them Vel Sartha and Cassian Andor.[11]
The funeral[]
- "You fall here, you fall alone."
- ―Blevin
The next day, Cassian Andor's mother, Maarva, passed away due to disease; Ferrix garrison commander Captain Vanis Tigo contacted and informed Meero of the fact. He reported that the local citizens' society Daughters of Ferrix had requested a public funeral on Rix Road as per local customs and that he was prepared to deny their request. Meero, however, ordered the captain to authorize the ceremony, as it would be an ideal trap for Andor, who Meero was certain would return.[16] By nighttime she had arrived on Ferrix on board a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle accompanied by a guard of two death troopers. She was debriefed in the Imperial planetary headquarters on the Rix Road hotel, after which she went for a walk in the city accompanied by Attendant Corv.[15]
Meero inspects the funeral procession's route.
The next morning, as Imperial forces were preparing for the funeral, she was briefed on the security measures the garrison had taken from a hotel balcony. She instructed Tigo to not use lethal force against anyone, as she needed Andor alive; she also ordered that an Imperial sniper unit stationed by the street be replaced by a riot unit. The funeral service started earlier than expected, giving Imperial units little time to prepare and set up a perimeter around the hotel. During the ceremony, Nurchi, a friend of Andor's who had been told of his arrival to the town the night before, approached Corv with information on Andor's whereabouts, prompting Corv to pretend to arrest him and lead him to Meero. The supervisor immediately picked up her escort and arrived to inspect the supposed hiding place, finding no trace of Andor inside. Unbeknownst to her, Andor had escaped through the old furnace tunnels and was entering the hotel while its security was busy attending to the funeral outside as Maarva Andor's recorded farewell speech was particularly anti-Imperial and the crowd was visibly moved.[15]
Meero was saved at the last moment by Syril Karn, who had rushed to her rescue as soon as the bomb went off
Enraged with the spectacle, Tigo rushed to the droid B2EMO, who was broadcasting the speech, and kicked it down. This action roused the crowd, which immediately attacked Tigo and the Imperial security trooper detail standing by, causing the Prefect to crawl through the action beaten up and hide behind the Imperial perimeter. The riot caught Meero unprepared and outside Imperial protection, as Andor had just taken out one of her death trooper escorts inside the hotel. Alone, Meero fought the protesters with her blaster drawn until she was attacked and beaten up. While she was crawling through the mud attempting desperately to reach her pistol, she was taken by an armed man who cornered her in a warehouse, shutting the door; grabbing a tool, Meero attempted to fight him, only to realize it was actually Karn who had saved her. Shocked, she admitted that she should thank him. Karn simply responded that there was no need to.[15]
Ghorman project[]
Dedra discussed the Ghorman project with Krennic at the Maltheen Divide during a secret conference
In 4 BBY, despite the uprising on Ferrix and her failure to identify Axis, Meero received an invitation to attend a secret meeting at the Maltheen Divide with Partagaza. Her invitation came at the personal request of Director Orson Callan Krennic,[17] the leader of the Advanced Weapons Research[18] and someone who sat on both Imperial High Command[19] and the Joint Chiefs of the Imperial Military.[20] Krennic presented an overview of the Imperial plan to gouge mine deep substrate foliated kalkite from the planet Ghorman—a process that could render the planet unstable and potentially collapse its core under the stress. Though Krennic did not reveal all of the details, the kalkite would be used to coat the reactor lenses of the DS-1 Death Star Mobile Battle Station. The plan for subjugation and military occupation of Ghorman, to be completed within three years, included a negative propaganda campaign against the Ghor to limit galactic sympathy and present an alibi for martial crackdowns. Meero was skeptical that the plan was sufficient, and privately suggested to Krennic that fostering a violent insurgency on the planet would produce better results.[17] Back on Coruscant, Meero indicated that she would decline further participation in the project, hoping to resume her work searching for Axis. Major Lio Partagaz chastised her for building up the fame of Axis and failing to deliver results. He instructed Meero to accept the Ghorman project, stating that, while it would appear to be a demotion, and that Meero would need to play the part as such, Ghorman was a gift that she could run as she saw fit and use to secure a win for herself.[21]
Over the following two years, leading up to the Ghorman Massacre in 2 BBY, Dedra Meero oversaw ISB security operations on Ghorman. Central to Meero's task was the false flag Ghorman Front insurgency that she herself had suggested to Director Krennic. Meero quietly transferred her boyfriend, Syril Karn, to Ghorman as director of the Imperial Bureau of Standards Field Office. Meero took numerous precautions to conceal the nature of their relationship from rebel elements, including staging a breakup with Karn back on Coruscant and having their in person interactions and remote communications conducted under the strictest ISB restrictions. There, in 3 BBY, Karn was contacted by the Ghorman Front leadership, including Carro Rylanz, on its mistaken belief that he had sympathies for Ghorman's plight. This was thanks to a carefully cultivated personality that Karn projected to the locals, both in person and in remote communications with home, which the ISB anticipated would be intercepted by the Ghorman Front. Meero successfully used Karn to feed information to the Ghorman front about classified military shipments through Palmo. This emboldened the insurgent movement, attracted the involvement of the Axis Network, and had the intended effect of supplying the Ghorman Front with weapons, destabilizing the political situation sufficiently to justify an increased Imperial military presence.
By 2 BBY, although the Ghorman Front had begun to see through Karn's deception and become both radicalized and desperate from the deteriorating situation, Meero had accomplished her goal of justifying a severely tightened regime on the planet. She arrived in person in Palmo to oversee the final stages of the covert ISB operation that would result in the Ghorman Massacre, though Imperial leadership did not entrust even her with the full details. On the fateful day of the Ghorman Massacre, a crisis specialist Captain Kaido arrived to assume the tactical command of Imperial operations, while Meero retained overall command,[22] including initiating the fateful order to execute the false flag attack leading to the massacre.[23]
On command from Partagaz in Coruscant, Meero gave the order in her command center overlooking the plaza, an order which led to an Imperial sniper killing one of Kaido's riot control officers, who had been deliberately chosen for their inexperience and sent into the midst of the gathering crowd around the Monument to the Fallen. This led to a drawn-out firefight between Imperial forces surrounding the plaza and armed Ghorman Front partisans in the crowd, causing the deaths of large numbers of civilians, especially once the Imperial command unleashed droids and unrestricted live fire on the city. However, Karn angrily confronted her for her complicity in the imminent bloodshed and broke up with her. Meero was even unknowingly almost killed by the also-present Cassian Andor until he was distracted by Karn, who had fled the safety of the Imperial command center as his worldview began to crumble. Filled with rage, he attacked Andor but was killed by Rylanz. Following the massacre and Karn's death, which occured despite Meero's efforts to locate him in the crowd, she was psychologically shaken and, in the privacy of the safe room, pulled at her collar and uniform in a panic.[23]
"Axis" found[]
- "Freedom scares you."
""Freedom"? You don't want freedom. You want chaos, chaos for everyone but you. Ruin the galaxy and then run back to your ridiculous wig and little workshop."
"How confident you are."
"We're done here."
"Confident and terrified."
"The building is surrounded. You're finished."
"And you're too late. The rebellion isn't here anymore. It's flown away. It's everywhere now. There's a whole galaxy out there waiting to disgust you." - ―Meero and Luthen Rael during their confrontation
Meero confronts Axis, the object of her years-long obsession.
With the operation on Ghorman a success, Meero continued her search for Axis over the next year. In 1 BBY,[25] Meero finally managed to track down and deduce the identity of Axis through a set of highly classified data packets that she would later reveal were forwarded to her office from Advanced Weapons Research two years prior by mistake which she never reported to her superiors. These files contained vital information on Project Stardust which was the true purpose behind the Emperor's "energy project", Meero even learned the true name of the superweapon; Death Star. Among others, the files included Scarif orbital progress assessments, Eadu research journals (including the name of the facility's chief scientist Galen Erso), and more than two years worth of Jedha Kyber crystal mining group printouts.[26]
Dedra's breakthrough came when she examined the files on the planet Jedha, she discovered that a Partisan spy who was a valet for the local Moff was interrogate by Orson Krennic's team. The spy revealing among other things that he had been hired by a man with a Fondor Haulcraft full of antiquities from his shop on Coruscant. However, the spy was tortured to death and all his information including on Axis was buried rather than being forwarded to Dedra.[26]
With the information she scavenged from the Jedha files, Dedra was finally able to deduce that the mysterious rebel leader she obsessively sought for the last five years was none other than Luthen Rael, a well known and well-connected antiquities dealer who owned a gallery on Coruscant. Dedra made a failed attempt to confront and arrest Luthen Rael, whom she had correctly identified as Axis. Making the mistake of confronting him alone with a team surrounding his shop, Luthen attempted suicide to protect the Rebellion. Dedra's team took him to a hospital where he remained in critical condition. Dedra ordered he be kept alive for interrogation until Supervisor Heert arrived and arrested Meero under suspicions of her being a spy. Luthen would never be interrogated, however, as his assistant and second-in-command, Kleya Marki infiltrated the hospital disguised as a nurse and successfully euthanized Luthen to make sure the Empire would never learn the secrets of their Rebel network. This failure was the least of her worries, however, as her arrest was due to the discovery of the highly classified files she illegally possessed related to the Death Star.[24]
Downfall[]
- "We'll do our best to carry on without you."
- ―Director Krennic
Krennic interrogates Meero.
Ironically, Meero was held in an ISB interrogation room, where she was confronted by none other than Director Krennic, who demanded to know who else knew of the Death Star. Initially, Meero objected to the suggestion that she was a rebel spy, before naming Major Partagaz only to be corrected that he wanted to know the names he didn't know. She then first offered up Supervisor Lagret's brother, who was stationed on Scarif. When asked if Jung was on her list of suspects, Meero was surprised when Krennic accused her of giving Jung her code cert, which she refuted he likely stole it. Krennic followed up by demanding to know what she knew about Galen Erso, prompting Meero to admit to having received several intel bundles by mistake. Though she denied reading all of them, Krennic guessed she read enough. He then pointed his finger on top of her skull as he revealed that Jung spent three hours last night logged into her files and suggested he likely leaked it to Axis before his demise, causing Meero to react with terror. Meero tried to defend herself, insisting that her actions in acquiring classified intel were her efforts to capture Axis and that she had only done so because any possible leads were either buried under clutter or killed. However, Krennic furiously rebuked her for so foolishly confronting Rael by herself and remarked that if wasn't a rebel spy, it was clear she missed her calling.[26]
Struggling to speak, Meero then named Rael's assistant, Kleya Marki, as a likely suspect to possess knowledge of the Death Star. As Lieutenant Moy entered the room to inform Krennic of a new development, the Director declared he was done with Meero. Desperate to make herself useful, Meero rose to assert that whatever intel Rael had he likely communicated to Marki and that the Empire had to find her at all costs. However, Krenic forcibly grabbed her face and forced her back into her seat, declaring that the Empire would conduct the search without her help.[26]
Afterwards, Meero, having been stripped of her rank, was placed in a cell, where she was approached by an anxious Supervisor Heert in her cell. After correctly surmising that Rael had died by then, which he confirmed, explaining that Marki assassinated him. Meero bitterly told her former protege that the case was his responsibility now, derogatorily referring to him as "Jung's best friend." As she suggested he'd likely be taking up his own cell if he failed, Heert asked why Krennic was directly involved. Meero assumed he was testing her, only to be corrected that he needed her advice; he placed a massive search package on Marki but they both know she's too smart to be caught by conventional means. However, he suggested that her aid in Marki's capture might earn Meero a pardon. Meero reluctantly advised him to trace Marki's location through use of the fractal radio, though she forewarned he'd likely be too late.[26]
Dedra Meero as a convict at an Imperial labor prison facility.
Meero was soon after a convict imprisoned at an Imperial labor prison facility on[27] the moon[28] Narkina 2.[29] As soon as the lights went out in her cellblock, Meero broke down weeping over having lost everything and how her careless obsession with finding Axis had led to her downfall.[27]
Personality and traits[]
- "What's more urgent than a renegade intelligence officer? Imagine if everyone in this room played as loose with the rules as you."
"Excellent suggestion, Blevin. I'm wondering where we'd be right now if everyone here showed the same endeavor as Supervisor Meero. I'll have to think about that. " - ―Supervisor Blevin and Major Lio Partagaz, on Dedra Meero
Dedra Meero was as ruthless as she was ambitious.
Meero was a human female with fair skin and blonde hair that she wore in a tight bun at the back of her head.[3] Her face often displayed a measured but severe expression. An ambitious and relentless agent of the Imperial Security Bureau,[30] who never missed a detail,[31] Supervisor Meero was a devoted advocate for the organization, determined to make her way up its male-dominated hierarchy.[30] Steely,[32] ruthless, and fiercely intelligent, she possessed an acute acumen regarding the rebellion, predicting their actions.[30]
Equipment[]
Meero donned the signature white uniform of the Security Bureau along with black boots. She had three blue squares on her rank insignia plaque, as well as a pair of code cylinders. At times, Meero donned a cream-white overcoat, a black kepi, and black gloves, in addition to her uniform. She occasionally also carried a briefcase[3] or a Power 5 blaster. She traveled on a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle.[15]
Behind the scenes[]
- "It's really important to me that there are no factions outlined: it's important that Dedra feels like the heroine of her story, and that's why she's scary. She is a fascist. She believes in something, but it is fascism. At first you have to root for her, you feel like you're rooting for her, but then you realize that no matter how strong a woman she is in a world of men, you realize that she is just a fascist in a world of fascists."
- ―Denise Gough
Portrayed by Denise Gough,[34] Dedra Meero was created as the primary antagonist[35] for the 2022 Andor television series.[36]
Denise Gough as Dedra Meero in her character poster
Creator[37] and writer[9] Tony Gilroy purposely made Meero hard not to root for in order to give the heroes and villains the complexities of real people.[37] When Gilroy and the other writers wrote Meero and built her up, they realized she was an underdog trapped in the world and one of the only two women working[38] at the ISB.[3] Gilroy viewed her as someone fighting their way up in a male environment and being better at their job than everyone else. Gilroy[39] and the writers started rooting for Meero and tried to figure out how to make her a strong character. When they got to the Ferrix episodes,[38] they questioned Meero's actions[40] and realized they did not need to endorse someone else's thinking or sadism, but instead needed to get in there and be with Meero to make her strong.[38]
After seeing Denise Gough's performance in the play People, Places and Things, Gilroy was impressed and knew she was right for the role. Gough's agent later told her that Star Wars called, and Gilroy then approached her for the role. However, Gough did not know who Gilroy was and knew almost nothing about the Star Wars. Gilroy then told her that was great and he also knew little about the franchise and then explained the series to Gough and sent her the scripts for the first three episodes, which the actress thought were magical. After they spent an hour talking about Dedra Meero, Gough decided she wanted to play her in the show.[40] Gough gravitated towards Meero because of the show's interest in the characters.[41]
When Gough asked Gilroy about her character's backstory, he explained that she was an outsider trying to be in a position of power to feel in control.[42] Gilroy also pitched Meero as "fascist" and "badass." To prepare, Gough only watched the film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story so that she would not have too much information and she could avoid being a version of something. Instead, she tried to play her character and flesh out the characteristics described by Gilroy.[40] The actress was influenced by the villain Gustavo Fring from the Breaking Bad television series, and she stole the steely elegance from actress Jennifer Connelly's performance in the Snowpiercer television series.[43]
The actress loved playing a female character who is gaining power in a male-dominated world. She also loved showing the dangerous effect that the pursuit of power and control has on everyone.[41] She found Meero to be a sincerely devout believer in the Empire despite being a villain, portraying Meero as someone who felt her fellow Imperials were "very mediocre."[30] Gough found Meero terrifying due to being interested in control of everyone and everything, which she thought made her the antithesis of Luthen Rael.[40] She aimed to play Meero as ambitious as the most villainous men and "color in all the shades" so that viewers would be conflicted. Gough wanted Meero to not be redeemed. She presumed Meero felt like she needed to achieve and be seen because she was never validated psychologically.[37] During Gough's first fitting in Meero's uniform, she told the designer the uniform had to be tailored and nipped in a certain spot.[42]
Gilroy[39] and director Toby Haynes wanted the audience to empathize with Meero. Haynes believed that the scariest villain is one who thinks they are doing the right thing, so he tried to show that in three dimensions to make the audience think about what it takes to be a good guy.[44] Scenes on Ferrix were filmed in an intricate set in Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire.[30] According to Gilroy, everything on Ferrix was filmed first.[45] On Gough's first day on set, she was in the Ferrix set[42] during Maarva Andor's funeral,[40] where Gough and two death troopers walked through a large group of extras.[42] Gough loved playing Meero and rooted for her because she worked in a room where she was surrounded by men not doing their jobs properly.[37] Early in the shoot[40] for the episode "Announcement,"[12] Gough had to say she needed a Multi-Sector Data Blend going back two years, but she had difficulty enunciating the line. After a discussion with director Benjamin Caron, Gough realized she needed to use muscles she usually only used on stage, and she could then say the line.[40]
When Gough first met Kyle Soller, Syril Karn's actor, and they filmed their scenes together, she thought it was great because Karn was as intense as Meero. Both actors tried to match each others' ambition and intensity.[37] When Gough filmed Meero's rejection of Syril Karn outside the ISB Building[40] in the episode "Nobody's Listening!,"[6] Gough tried to be furious to show how Meero did not like being touched by Karn. The actress was excited for the scene of Meero torturing Bix Caleen. She said her twitchy face emerged organically, likely from her body language being under control. Caron instructed Gough to have her hands behind her back and to not have any swish. Gough initially had reservations about Meero getting rescued by Karn in the finale. When Karn brought Meero into a little room, Gough figured out a way so that Meero would first reach for something to hit her rescuer with.[40]
Gough received the scripts for the second season of Andor. She wanted the season to include Meero out of uniform to show who she is underneath.[40] When Soller, Gough, and Bix Caleen actress Adria Arjona were invited on as guests for the "Dagobah Dispatch" podcast, they were asked if Karn and Meero would develop a romance in the second season. Gough stated she was unsure if any person would be able to romance Meero, aside from Meero herself. Soller responded by saying his character had delusions of grandeur that he would not stop chasing until he could fulfill them.[46] After the reveal that the two characters had begun a relationship, which was described by StarWars.com as the show's "strangest power couple," in season two,[47] Soller described Karn as someone who found a "trauma bond" with Meero.[48]
Appearances[]
Star Wars: Andor — "Aldhani" (First appearance)- Star Wars: Andor — "The Axe Forgets"
- Star Wars: Andor — "The Eye"
- Star Wars: Andor — "Announcement"
- Star Wars: Andor — "Narkina 5"
- Star Wars: Andor — "Nobody's Listening!"
- Star Wars: Andor — "One Way Out"
- Star Wars: Andor — "Daughter of Ferrix"
- Star Wars: Andor — "Rix Road"
- Star Wars: Andor — "One Year Later"
- Star Wars: Andor — "Sagrona Teema"
- Star Wars: Andor — "Harvest"
- Star Wars: Andor — "Ever Been to Ghorman?"
- Star Wars: Andor — "I Have Friends Everywhere"
- Star Wars: Andor — "What a Festive Evening"
- Star Wars: Andor — "Messenger"
- Star Wars: Andor — "Who Are You?"
- Star Wars: Andor — "Make It Stop"
- Star Wars: Andor — "Who Else Knows?"
- Star Wars: Andor — "Jedha, Kyber, Erso"
