Lupin (French TV series)

Lupin is a French mystery thriller television series created by George Kay and François Uzan. It premiered on Netflix on 8 January 2021, when the first set of five episodes were released. Another five aired on 11 June 2021. The series was renewed for a third instalment, which debuted on 5 October 2023.

The show stars Omar Sy in the role of Assane Diop, a man who is inspired by the adventures of master thief Arsène Lupin, a character created by Maurice Leblanc in the early 1900s. The first part, consisting of five episodes, is subtitled Dans l'ombre d'Arsène ("in the shadow of Arsène"), referring to the primary character's inspiration. The series was watched by 76 million households during its first month, becoming the most-watched non-English series on Netflix at the time.

Synopsis
The story follows professional thief Assane Diop, the only son of an immigrant from Senegal who had come to France to seek a better life for himself and his child. Assane's father is framed for the theft of an expensive diamond necklace by his employer, the wealthy and powerful Hubert Pellegrini, and dies in his prison cell, leaving the fourteen-year-old Assane to fend for himself on the streets of Paris. Twenty-five years later, inspired by a book about gentleman thief Arsène Lupin his father had given him on his birthday, Assane sets out to get revenge on the Pellegrini family, using his charisma and mastery of thievery, subterfuge, and disguise to expose Pellegrini's crimes.

The second part focuses on the search for Assane's kidnapped son, Raoul, and the plan to take Pellegrini down; the latter was not killed but imprisoned. The third part revolves around the theft of "the priceless Black Pearl" by Assane, and his attempt to mend the relationships with his wife and son.

Main

 * Omar Sy as Assane Diop, a gentleman thief who styles himself after Arsène Lupin and vows to avenge his father's death.
 * Mamadou Haidara as young Assane Diop
 * Ludivine Sagnier as Claire Laurent, Assane's estranged wife and the mother of his child, of whom she has full custody.
 * Ludmilla Makowski as young Claire Laurent
 * Antoine Gouy as Benjamin Férel, Assane's best friend from his school days, who currently works as an antiquarian.
 * Adrian Valli de Villebonne as young Benjamin Férel
 * Soufiane Guerrab as Youssef Guédira, a detective who uses his knowledge of the Arsène Lupin books to track Assane's activity.
 * Shirine Boutella as Sofia Belkacem, a lieutenant detective. As of part 3, she has been promoted to the rank of captain.
 * Etan Simon as Raoul Diop, the son of Assane and Claire
 * Clotilde Hesme as Juliette Pellegrini (parts 1–2; guest, part 3), the daughter of wealthy entrepreneur Hubert Pellegrini.
 * Léa Bonneau as young Juliette Pellegrini
 * Nicole Garcia as Anne Pellegrini (parts 1–2), Hubert's wife.
 * Hervé Pierre as Hubert Pellegrini (parts 1–2; guest, part 3), an unscrupulous business tycoon who once employed Assane's father, Babakar.
 * Fargass Assandé as Babakar Diop (flashback sequences only), Assane's late father, who was falsely accused of having stolen the Pellegrinis' diamond necklace.
 * Vincent Londez as Captain Romain Laugier (parts 1–2), a police captain tasked with retrieving the Pellegrinis' necklace.
 * Vincent Garanger as Gabriel Dumont (parts 1–2), the commissioner of the Paris police department.
 * Johann Dionnet as young Gabriel Dumont

Supporting

 * Anne Benoît as Fabienne Bériot (part 1), an unjustly disgraced former journalist who had come close to exposing Hubert's villainy.
 * Adama Niane as Léonard Koné (parts 1–2), an ex-convict and assassin employed by Hubert.
 * Antony Hickling as Max Moller (part 3, episode 4), a powerful billionaire who arrives at the chateau.
 * Nicolas Wanczycki as Pascal Oblet (part 2), an undercover police officer who works closely with Hubert.
 * Stefan Crepon as Philippe Courbet (parts 2–3), a young stockbroker who is not all he seems.
 * Martha Canga Antonio as Fleur Bélanger (part 3), a journalist seeking to uncover the truth about Assane's activities.
 * Julien Pestel as Arnold de Garmeaux (part 3), a journalist who competes with Fleur for headlines.
 * Naky Sy Savané as Mariama Diop (part 3), Assane's mother
 * Seyna Kane as young Mariama Diop
 * Steve Tientcheu as Jean-Luc Keller (part 3), a man who ran a boxing club that Assane had joined as a teenager.
 * Salif Cissé as young Jean-Luc Keller
 * Sandra Parfait as Manon (part 3), Keller's girlfriend
 * Sandya Touré Maite as young Manon
 * Pierre Lottin as Bruno (part 3), a former childhood friend of Assane's
 * Noé Wodecki as young Bruno
 * Vincent Overath as Cisco (part 3), the leader of a gang that Assane becomes involved with.
 * Nicolas Berno as Ferdinand (part 3), an associate of Keller

Development


On 19 July 2018, Netflix ordered a new series, to be produced by Gaumont Film Company, about the character Arsène Lupin, portrayed by Omar Sy. In a 2018 interview, Sy revealed that "Arsene Lupin, who is an iconic and charismatic character, will take on a new life in this modern adaptation, unique in its genre". Netflix confirmed that George Kay and François Uzan would be the showrunners, with Louis Leterrier directing the first three episodes.

Initially, it was planned that Sy would appear as Arsène Lupin himself. However, upon being brought in as the series' showrunner and main writer, George Kay proposed that Sy should instead play a newly created character: Assane Diop, the son of a Senegalese chauffeur, who decides to style himself after the gentleman thief upon discovering Maurice Leblanc's books as a teenager in the 1990s. This allowed the series to explore modern-day cultural and racial issues in France. Sy commented that "the character had to be a Frenchman from today. That's why we have a black guy of African descent, living in the projects. It's a new face of France." Kay described the notion of "good arrogance" as being integral to his conception of Assane's personality: "It's arrogance you don't object to; you just admire [it]. It's: 'I'm going to literally take all your life savings. But if I do it with a big enough smile on my face, you kind of don't mind.'" Sy identified with Kay's characterization of Assane, stating that "my mom's a cleaner. My dad used to work in a factory. Coming from where I come from, I had to be arrogant [...] To be accepted, sometimes you have to pretend. The good arrogance helps you."

Kay was also keen to emphasize how Assane's lifestyle affects his relationships with his estranged wife, Claire, and their son, Raoul: "They're fundamental to the whole being of Assane Diop. He has to work that out, because that's a permanent situation. He has the mother of his child and his child—that's never going to change." The dynamic between Assane and Claire differs substantially from the depictions of women in the series' source material, with Kay noting that the original Arsène Lupin was "ludicrously successful with women in a very sort of disposable way, which probably felt at the time quite fun but now feels really dated. I don't want to write that guy, I want to write a guy who's amazing at breaking into a museum but also can't work out how to explain certain things to his kid or ex-partner." In an interview with the French publication 20 Minutes, Ludivine Sagnier voiced her appreciation for the fact that although Claire continues to care deeply about Assane, she is able to remain true to herself and her desires.

On developing the character of Youssef Guédira, a fellow Lupin devotee who happens to be a police detective charged with hunting Assane down, Kay said that "a lot of our favourite shows have their own podcasts and fanbases and all of that stuff, and I thought it'd be cool if that was incorporated into the series itself, so it becomes like a 'live' adaptation within the series. It takes someone who knows Lupin to recognize he's here at all, and then to start exploring that as an idea felt quite fun because you can back-reference stuff, you can lay a load of breadcrumbs that relate to the books and bring those back in again." Kay commented further on the series' depiction of the French police force, specifically Guédira's immediate superiors, captain Romain Laugier and lieutenant Sofia Belkacem: "It's not that they can't get Assane, it's just that they can't agree on how best to do it in the context of their own hierarchy, so that makes them more rounded as characters."

Filming
Filming of the first five episodes was completed primarily in Paris, on various streets and at the Louvre, both inside and out. According to research by Condé Nast Traveler, other important locations included La Naumachie pond at Parc Monceau and Musée Nissim de Camondo on rue de Monceau; the latter stands in as the Pellegrini home and is open to the public. Other listed locations include Collège-lycée Jacques-Decour, a parking garage on Rue d'Abbeville, the Marché Biron flea market, the Jardin du Luxembourg, the Pont des Arts, L'Appartement Saint-Martin (near Porte Saint-Martin), and the Maison d'Arrêt de Bois-d'Arcy prison. The publication adds that parts of the fifth episode were filmed in the town of Étretat, which is located along the coast of Normandy. This location is significant because Maurice Leblanc, who created the character Arsène Lupin, lived in the municipality.

The second set of five episodes were already filmed by the end of 2020 and were released on 11 June 2021.

On 18 November 2021, Netflix and Omar Sy confirmed that filming was underway in Paris for the series' third part. Shooting continued into 2022. On 25 February, production was temporarily halted after €300,000 worth of equipment was stolen from the set, resuming three days later. Many of the exteriors were filmed at Place Vendôme, while scenes set at the Hôtel de Beauvau were filmed at the Italian embassy in Paris. A teaser trailer for the show's third part was released during Netflix's Tudum event in September 2022. On 20 April 2023, Netflix announced that part 3 would premiere on the platform on 5 October of that year and that it would consist of seven episodes, with Ludovic Bernard, Daniel Grou, and Xavier Gens directing.

Music
The series' music is composed by Mathieu Lamboley, who also appears briefly in the tenth episode as the conductor of the orchestra at the Pellegrinis' concert. On writing the score, Lamboley commented: "To me, Lupin is all about heritage, a father passing on a literary heritage to his son, and the latter continuing the legacy in the present time. The question then became, how do I translate this in music? I decided to take a hybrid approach and mix my classical heritage with more modern sounds [...] and this is what you can hear in the soundtrack: classical writing blended together with hip hop beats."

Viewership
Lupin is the first French series to rank among the top ten on Netflix in the United States, reaching number three on 10 January 2021. It was ranked number one in France and many other countries in Europe, including Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Denmark, and Sweden, as well as other countries such as Canada, Brazil, Argentina, and South Africa.

As of 31 January 2021, the show was watched by 76 million households, making it the second-most-successful debut ever for an original Netflix show, after Bridgerton. In April, Netflix revealed that Lupin was the most watched title on the company's streaming service in the first quarter of 2021.

On 21 July 2021, it was reported that 54 million households watched the second part of the show, a drop compared to the first installment. Lupin still managed to become one of the biggest shows during the second quarter of 2021.

Between the release of part 2 in June 2021 and part 3 in October 2023, Netflix altered its methods for calculating a series' success, dividing the number of hours it was viewed by its total length for an estimation of total completed viewings. In its first four days on the platform, part 3 of Lupin was viewed approximately 11.6 million times, topping the international (non-English-language) television chart and becoming the strongest launch for a new season of an international show since 2021. Part 3 reached number one in many countries in Europe and Latin America and hit number two in the United States on 9 October, and again on 11 October. By January 2024, part 3 had received 50 million completed viewings.

Lupin is one of the most successful Netflix series in a language other than English, with all three parts achieving placements on the streamer's international top ten. In a press release published in October 2023, Netflix described the show's first two parts as "mainstays on the Most Popular Non-English TV list".

Critical response
On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the first part holds an approval rating of 98% with an average rating of 7.70/10, based on 44 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "Omar Sy effortlessly hits every mark in Lupin, an engrossing espionage thriller that lives up to its source material and then some." On Metacritic, the first part has a score of 82 out of 100 based on 8 reviews.

Writing for The New Paper, Jonathan Roberts stated that "if [Lupin] was a film, it would be a contender for the year's best". Daniel D'Addario of Variety wrote that the cliffhanger at the end of the first series "will leave any viewer who's taken the ride eager for more." Rolling Stone 's Alan Sepinwall praised Sy's performance, writing that "it all works because [he] is so magnetic and charming that questioning plot logic feels wildly besides the point." Karen Han of Slate wrote that Lupin "doesn't waste a single minute, packing each and every moment full of suspense".

On Rotten Tomatoes, the second part holds an approval rating of 96%, with an average rating of 8.10/10, based on 28 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "Smart, sexy, and stylish, Lupin's highly bingeable second season is perfect summer viewing". On Metacritic, the second part has a score of 80 out of 100 based on 7 reviews.

The show's third part received similarly positive reviews, although some critics felt that the new set of episodes suffered due to lower stakes for Assane's character. Nonetheless, Sy's performance was acclaimed once again, with Leila Latif of The Guardian calling him a "born action star". Praise was also given to the expanded roles for the series' supporting cast, particularly Ludivine Sagnier as Claire.

Cultural impact
Lupin has been credited with re-popularizing the character of Arsène Lupin, both in France and internationally. Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Burglar, the first collection of Lupin stories written by Maurice Leblanc, topped the children's literature book charts in France following the release of the series.

The show also boosted tourism in Étretat, featured extensively in the fifth episode, to the point where the town's permanent residents struggled to deal with the influx of visitors.