Stateside audiences may be enthralled by the show’s elusive lead character—Assane Diop, a roguish, rakish Danny Ocean type played by Omar Sy, who’s perhaps best known outside of France for his supporting work in 2015’s Jurassic World. But what they might not know is that the show and Diop himself are inspired by a famous fictitious figure in French literature: Arsène Lupin. Think of Lupin as France’s answer to James Bond; while Lupin is a self-employed “gentleman thief” and Bond does his dirty work on behalf of a secret government agency, both starred in several, action-packed short stories and novels (Bond’s written by Ian Fleming; Lupin’s by Maurice Leblanc) before making the move to the screen. (Another comparable English icon? Sherlock Holmes. In fact, Leblanc created the character of Lupin at the request of a French magazine editor who saw how popular Holmes was in Great Britain and wanted similar stories he could serialize in his own publication.) Warning: Speculation and spoilers ahead
So, is Lupin based on a book?
Lupin definitely isn’t a by-the-book adaptation. For starters, it’s set in modern-day Paris, whereas Leblanc’sLupin novels and short stories were written and published from roughly 1905 to 1940. Second, as mentioned above, Sy’s character isn’t Arsène Lupin, but a Senegalese-French immigrant who’s inspired to embark on a criminal career after his father gives him a copy of one of Leblanc’s Lupin books. (It turns out his father was loaned the book by a wealthy employer who later accuses him of stealing a priceless necklace, which Assane “steals” back in the first episode using some Lupin-esque sleight of hand…but we’ll stop there.) So Lupin is basically about how Assane uses Leblanc’s Arsène Lupin stories as a template for committing his own heists. The books may therefore be able to provide some clues as to where this twisty-turny series could be headed next, now that Part 2 of Lupin has been confirmed to debut on Netflix in summer 2021.
What book did Assane’s father give him?
Arsène Lupin Gentleman Burglar is the book Assane was given by his father as a child. He then gives it to his own son.
And how does the story tie into the on-screen series?
One of the short stories in that collection is “The Queen’s Necklace,” which is about an exquisite piece of jewelry that once belonged to Marie Antoinette—ostensibly, the very same necklace Assane’s father was accused of stealing. However, plot points from other stories in Arsène Lupin Gentleman Burglar also surface on Lupin, suggesting that the TV show is liberally borrowing from across Leblanc’s bibliography. There’s a story titled “The Escape of Arsène Lupin” that (spoiler alert!) mirrors how Assane busts out from behind bars, as well as a story called “The Mysterious Traveller” that likewise feels like source material for Assane’s encounter with, well, a mysterious train passenger.
Are there any Lupin Part 2 spoilers from the books?
Despite so much previously published Lupin material to draw from, spoilers for Part 2 are hard to come by online. For what it’s worth, some of the other short stories included in Arsène Lupin Gentleman Burglar have titles like “The Seven of Hearts,” “Madame Imbert’s Safe,” “The Black Pearl” and lastly “Sherlock Holmes Arrives Too Late.” If Assane continues to follow in Lupin’s footsteps, these could be the remaining pieces of the puzzle. Maybe there’s a black pearl, or another piece of jewelry, that he’s after. And Sherlock Holmes could be referring to the detective on his tail. Not that we have any idea where he could be “late” to. But maybe he’s late in catching Assane…? That ties into another spoiler we came across on the show’s IMDb page. Only one other actors besides Sy is listed there as appearing in more than five episodes—Vincent Londez, who plays police captain Romaine Laugier, the cop who responds to the necklace heist in episode 1—suggesting that he’ll continue to be on Assane’s tail in Part 2. Looking for more new shows? These are the new Netflix shows we’re excited for in 2021.
