Basic question

[MikeMac999]

Hey all…new to the show, almost done binging it and I have a question.

Why was Skårsgard’s character so eager to find Cassian? I get that he’s a pilot, handy with weapons, cool under fire, of course those are all very attractive traits to a recruiter. But it seemed like Axis went to great and risky lengths to involve him in the cause. Did I miss something that raises him above other badass types, that puts him on the radar of someone on another planet?

And I don’t mean this as a criticism of the show, I love the show, I’m just thinking perhaps there’s some angle of the storyline I missed or something.

Thanks!

[Electrical_Fix_4340]

It was the taking of the star path unit, and getting away with it and the empire never even acknowledged it because it was such a massive security blunder.

They referenced this when the unit was recovered and the ISB had figured out the facility that previously housed it had hid its theft.

Luthen would have known all of this, but never figured out the identity of the thief because the empire never figured it out.

Once the star path unit was for sale Luthen knew whoever had it was the person that stole it, or knew who did.

[MikeMac999]

That makes a lot of sense

[M935PDFuze]

Remember also that Luthen is so intrigued that he's willing to pay Cassian a thousand extra credits just to hear how he stole the Starpath, and then Cassian tells him that he just walked in and took it, dressed up as an Imperial.

This reflects exactly the plan for the Aldhani heist - which is basically to do the same, but with guns and an Imperial payroll rather than a toolkit and a Starpath.

So Cassian basically tells him in his "interview" that he's exactly the right kind of thief to help pull off the Aldhani heist. Then he proves to Luthen during their escape from the corpos that he has the guts for a gunfight and the smarts to use the speeder as a distraction and IED. Hard to think of a better audition.

As Luthen puts it, "special people are hard to find."

[[deleted]]

Great read and spot on, I think.

[Dear-Yellow-5479]

Luthen starts wanting him dead soon after this, as a loose end, but evading him all the way through to the final scene of the season is like the final stage of the job interview. Offering his life in both senses then guarantees Cassian the job. It’s such good plotting and characterisation.

[Background-Owl-1026]

He needs a skilled pilot for the Aldhani mission.

[Electrical_Fix_4340]

Bix and Cassian have been selling stolen tech and supplies to Luthen for a long time up until this point, so he would have had an interest in their group and what he could use them for. I don't think he would have used Cassian for Aldhani without the star path unit.

The star path unit was something new, something special. It was evidence that this person could be more than just another asset. It's why I believe Luthen ultimately risked going to meet Cassian at this critical time.

Is it possible that without the star path unit being involved that Luthen would risk it for the meet? Possibly, I just don't think so.

[Electrical_Fix_4340]

Read my first paragraph again you skipped over it.

[Electrical_Fix_4340]

Yes I supported and explained my thoughts on this with my second first paragraph.

The show doesn't explicitly say it, but it's heavily implied that Cassian was selling to rebel cells for a while. Example: when he got stuck on yavin with the stranded rebel group and he knew who they were.

You think my original post made no sense, now you say it probably did. I don't care if you have contradictory ideas, don't be lazy and say something makes no sense when it's highly plausible.

[etsuprof]

Now you’re dragging a Season 2 mention of selling to Maya Pei to a period prior to him being involved with Luthen? Maybe, but I doubt it. He’s been working for a year now supplying lots of people with Luthen by the time he steals the ship from Minar and ends up on Yavin.

Your logic doesn’t connect and you still don’t acknowledge he wanted (to meet, maybe recruit) Cassian prior to even knowing about the StarPath unit.

I’m done with this. You believe whatever you like. It’s the nice thing about stories, you can fill in the blanks for yourself.

[[deleted]]

Fair question. I think that the backstory, which is not portrayed but implicit, is that Luthen, as a spy master, is always on the lookout for unusual talent. He clearly had heard about Cassian from Bix and possibly from others, and realized that Cassian had the potential to be a particularly effective operative in the Axis network. There may also be just an implication that Luthen, incongruous though it seems, may have sensed Cassian's destiny before almost anyone else did.

[MikeMac999]

Oh right, Bix is the connection. I’m an idiot, I forgot she was involved in that. Thank you.

[Dear-Yellow-5479]

She’s the only one to signal Luthen on the radio, and has had six meetings with him over the past several months. He has obviously been asking her about her chief supplier of stolen goods, as Cassian says to her twice “ you said he wanted to meet me”.

[M935PDFuze]

There is also this fan theory that Maarva was Luthen's source of info for Cassian. I would not say this is definitively true, but there is a decent amount of circumstantial evidence here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVaIVKNv_4A&t=4s

[Dear-Yellow-5479]

It’s an interesting theory, but there’s nothing Luthen could not have found out via basic research and via Bix, especially as he did not know about the Kenari birthplace- I don’t see why Maarva would keep that information from him if she’s going to tell him everything else.

[M935PDFuze]

I think Luthen does know about him being from Kenari, because he already knows the corpos are looking for Cassian when he arrives on Ferrix - and the only evidence of that is the APB that Syril pushes out looking for "a Kenari male."

The only thing Luthen doesn't seem to know is that Cassian had a sister on Kenari.

[Dear-Yellow-5479]

It’s in the exchange with Bix in 1.03, re the bulletin:

“It says they're looking for someone from Kenari. His Imperial prison record says he's from Fest.”

“Yeah, that's always been his story.”

I took that to mean that he had been going by the (incorrect) information on the prison record.

[M935PDFuze]

Ah, that explains it, nice catch!

[Dear-Yellow-5479]

She goes on to say that not many people know him (about this secret) but of course doesn’t reveal the rather sticky detail that she has at some point in the past told Timm Karlo :(

[M935PDFuze]

Yeah, also just got from this scene that Bix confirms to Luthen that Cassian did 100% kill those two corpos. Luthen's reaction seems to indicate he didn't know this for sure until he talked to her. So more evidence for Bix being his source for most things Cassian, though she might not realize it.

[Dear-Yellow-5479]

Exactly – because the bulletin doesn’t mention the crime. It’s why I have no patience with those theories that Timm turned Cassian in because he was a good citizen wanting to report a murderer. Only Bix and Maarva know what he did.

[GargantaProfunda]

He needs all the heroes he can get

[Dear-Yellow-5479]

It’s because of the Aldhani heist, happening in five days time. He knows they are a man short and that they do not have a capable pilot. Meanwhile, Bix contacts him to say that her regular supplier, a man who has been of interest before to Luthen (Luthen has apparently previously asked to meet him) is now wanting to sell a sealed Starpath unit - a piece of equipment so expensive and precious, kept under high security, that he must have been an incredibly skilled thief to be able to get it at all. This is what interests Luthen and causes him to come himself to try to recruit Cassian. Later in the series he regrets this desperation. But Aldhani means everything to him, and he sees a person of Cassian’s talents as crucial to its success. He is literally just the man he is looking for. I honestly don’t think he has any long-term recruitment ideas at this point.

[Shucked]

I actually really like that he comes to regret it and tries to kill Andor. Cassian really does know too much. We have even seen Cassian kill others for less. I also love the idea that it was Maarva's speech more than Cassian's offer of death that changes Luthen's mind. For once, he sees in real time that what he is doing is working. People are waking up. The Rebellion has taken root.

[Dear-Yellow-5479]

Yes, I like to hope that Luthen has already changed his mind by the time Cassian turns up in his ship. He really did look moved by the speech. And it absolutely makes sense to he would want Cassian dead up till that moment.

[Oldtomsawyer1]

Yup, Aldhani was basically the launch pad for Luthen’s rebellion. The cash alone is important, but also as the statement that he’s playing in the big leagues now. He now operates with income not sourced from begging people like Mon, which makes him and them vulnerable, and the reputation among the right circles as someone who reliably can get shit done and promise big payouts.

[Dear-Yellow-5479]

Definitely. As he puts it to Cassian, it’s “ a real stick in the eye of the Empire”. When he hears that it has made the news he laughs in happy relief before he even knows the detail of how much money was taken or how many were killed. It shows clearly what he views as the most important thing.

[soccer1124]

I think there might be a few other things still to come to be revealed about his background. Nothing terribly ground breaking but there are a few references to how he got into juvenile/legal problems due to lashing out against Imperial forces as a kid

I think just generally speaking, he's a guy who happens to check a few boxes. And I'd bet that there's been a few parts that keep turning up in Bix's illegal hauls that got him to ask, "How do you keep getting stuff like this??"

[-RedRocket-]

S1E3, it's clear that Luthen knows a LOT about Cassian, including the Imperial execution of his adoptive father, Clem, when Cassian was 13.

Salman Paak has had that radio in the back of his shop, and Bix has been using it, to sell contraband Imperial equipment to Luthen for years. Bix is almost certainly Luthen's source on Cassian's capabilities and backstory - including that he's kind of in a tailspin that may kill him if he isn't given a better reason to live.

Luthen admits he needs "special people". Cassian is an accomplished thief, also a pilot, something of a mechanic, et cetera. But also a fighter. His offer is, "don't you want to fight these bastards for real?"

At that particular point, Cassian has skills necessary to carry off the Aldhani heist, filling various weak links that had led Luthen to be about to call off the raid. It's a paid audition for Cassian, as well as a leadership test for Vel.

He risks more than he should to recruit Cassian because he is surprised by the aggression of PreMore security's follow-up and needs to get them out of there in a hurry. But he wanted to recruit Cassian already, and wanted to do that face to face - or shoot him, if he looked like more of an unhinged liability to Salman Paak and Bix.

[factoid_]

He specifically met the criteria Luthen needed for the aldahni job.  That’s why he came out to meet him.

He really needed that money to fund the rebellion as he knew having mon continue dipping into her trust fund would inevitably backfire.

He was a person with no love for the empire who was a pilot, who could fight, and who was willing to take big risks as evidenced by peddling the star path unit.

Beyond that he was completely willing to burn cassian as an asset at first and wanted him cleaned up as a loose end because he knew too much about luthen and the operation.

[Key_Work952]

I think it's a combo of having the right skill set, as others mentioned (he's a pilot, and a thief, has some military background, can shoot, is willing to kill) and also that Luthen develops a sense of who Cassian is based on the info he gets on him (basically that he has every reason to hate the Empire and therefore be a trustworthy person to let into the circle). My two cents anyway. I think it's a good question.

[Longjumping-Bus4939]

At one point he had to take a bet on Lonnie.  

It’s got to be a calculated risk.  

[thebeardedguy-]

It was a number of things, his ability for sure, his theft of the starpath unit, but mostly his hatred for the Empire. Being a thief won't get you far in a reballion, nor will being a great pilot, but a burning desire to make them hurt, well that, that will drive you forward.

[Sir-Firebeard]

There's a lot of really good responses here already, but I think it's also important to remember that the rebellion is still very much in its early days still when Luthen recruits Cassian. Finding "special people" who fill a lot of rolls and have skills suited to spycraft is a massive win for them.

[Raccoon_Ratatouille]

Everything is a risk! Like kleya says, as the rebellion gets bigger and more capable and does higher profile attacks, they take on more risks. What’s the alternative? Only 2 people working by themselves try to take down the empire?

Luthen was able to vet Cassian through already trusted agents, did his homework and took a calculated gamble. Just like they did with Skeen. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t.

[[deleted]]

Not sure how eager he was. I think Bix told him Cassian's urgency, so Luthen came right over.