49 Fun Facts About Lupin

Who plays Assane Diop in Lupin?

Omar Sy. The series began with him: when producers asked which role he dreamed of playing, he answered Lupin.

To case the Louvre before the heist that opens Lupin, Assane takes a job there as what?

A janitor. The plan rests on a point the show keeps making about class in France: the wealthy never look at the people who clean up after them.

Who wrote the original Arsène Lupin stories?

Maurice Leblanc. His thief first appeared in a magazine story in 1905 and proved so popular that Leblanc kept writing him for more than 30 years.

Which film won Lupin's lead actor the César for best actor?

The Intouchables. On a night when The Artist took best film and five more Césars, he beat that film's star to the best actor prize.

Lupin's first five episodes, released in January 2021, end on which cliffhanger?

His son goes missing. The show's creator said the real cliffhanger is not the detective finally catching up with Assane on the beach, but where the boy has gone.

What is the French subtitle of Lupin's first part?

Dans l'ombre d'Arsène. 'In the shadow of Arsène' fits a change of plan: the star was first announced as Lupin himself, then given a new hero who idolises him.

How much viewing put a household among Lupin's 76 million viewers in 2021?

Two minutes. Netflix said that was long enough to show the choice was intentional; it later switched to dividing the hours watched by a show's running time.

In Lupin, Assane's father came to France from which country?

Senegal. Assane's mother stayed behind when they left, which is why the teenager is left entirely alone in France once his father dies.

In Lupin, Assane's father was framed for stealing what?

A diamond necklace. In the show it once belonged to Marie Antoinette, and its reappearance at auction years later is what sets Assane's revenge in motion.

Why did Hubert Pellegrini fake the theft that he pinned on Assane's father in Lupin?

To claim the insurance. The scam only worked with a scapegoat, so an innocent employee went to prison for it and died there.

In Lupin, what job did Assane's father do for the Pellegrini family?

Chauffeur. His boss accused him of theft and he was later found dead in his prison cell, leaving Assane on his own at 14.

In Lupin, whom does Assane recruit for the Louvre heist?

Loan sharks. He talks them into doing the stealing and has planned for their double-cross: they end up under arrest while he walks away with the prize.

In Lupin, what is the name of Assane's son?

Raoul. In the books, the young Arsène Lupin calls himself Raoul d'Andrésy before he is famous.

Lupin's third part opens with Assane announcing he will steal which jewel?

The Black Pearl. He tells its owners and the press exactly when he will strike, so crowds of supporters gather outside to cheer him on.

Who plays Claire, the mother of Assane's son, in Lupin?

Ludivine Sagnier. Her Claire grounds the show: its creator wanted a hero who can rob a museum but can't explain himself to his child's mother.

In Lupin, what does Assane's best friend Benjamin Férel do for a living?

Antiquarian. The trade is handy for a thief's best friend: Assane sells his stolen goods through Benjamin's shop.

Which detective uses his knowledge of the Lupin books to track Assane?

Youssef Guédira. He is a fan of the novels himself, which is how he alone notices that the thief's aliases are anagrams of Arsène Lupin.

In Lupin, who is Juliette to Hubert Pellegrini, the tycoon who framed Assane's father?

His daughter. The writers made her an old flame of Assane's, which gives him a way into the very family he is out to ruin.

Whose confession to detectives first gets Hubert Pellegrini arrested in Lupin's second part?

His wife. Anne Pellegrini tells detectives the truth about the old theft, but her husband's friends in high places soon have him out again.

In Lupin, what was the first name of Assane's father?

Babakar. The Lupin book he chooses as a present for his son becomes the boy's guide to life and, decades later, his way to clear his father's name.

In Lupin, Fabienne Bériot, who helps Assane go after Hubert Pellegrini, is a disgraced former what?

Journalist. She had come close to exposing the tycoon's crimes before he had her discredited, so she joins Assane to finish the job.

In Lupin, Léonard Koné works for Hubert Pellegrini as what?

An assassin. He is behind the death of Fabienne Bériot, the ally who was helping Assane gather evidence against his boss.

How does Hubert Pellegrini turn Assane into France's most wanted man in Lupin's second part?

By framing him for murder. The body is left in Assane's own flat, and that night his real name and face go public across France.

In Lupin's third part, Jean-Luc Keller ran what kind of club that the teenage Assane joined?

Boxing. Keller pushed the orphans at his gym into crime, then spent 25 years in prison after a job with Assane went wrong, and he comes back for revenge.

Which production company makes Lupin for Netflix?

Gaumont. The studio was already working with the show's star and asked him what he wanted to play, and the series grew from his answer.

Louis Leterrier, who directed Lupin's first three episodes, had earlier made which heist film?

Now You See Me. For Lupin's opening robbery he took cast and crew into the real Louvre and filmed there through the night.

Lupin's star calls Lupin his dream role, but says that had he been English he would have named which hero?

James Bond. He called Lupin the perfect part for the same reasons: fun, funny, very elegant and full of action.

In Lupin, where did Assane first meet his best friend Benjamin?

At school. They have been friends since childhood, and the show's creator calls Benjamin the sounding board Assane turns to when deciding where to go next.

In Lupin's first part, how does a disguised Assane try to expose Hubert Pellegrini?

On a TV talk show. The show's creator says Assane's crimes are all about pricking the bubble of the French establishment, and here he tries it on national television.

What occasion is Assane marking when he takes his family to the Normandy coast in Lupin's part 1 finale?

His son's birthday. The surprise is a seaside festival celebrating the gentleman thief, the hero both father and son grew up reading.

In Lupin's part 1 finale, where does Assane fight and lock up the man tailing his family?

On a train. The show's creator built each episode around a self-contained story of its own, and this one is the classic fight in a moving carriage.

In Lupin's part 1 finale, Assane takes his family to a festival for Lupin fans in which Normandy seaside town?

Étretat. The needle of rock off its cliffs inspired the Lupin novel The Hollow Needle, which is why fans of the thief gather there.

Which police officer helped Hubert Pellegrini frame Assane's father in Lupin?

Gabriel Dumont. He rose to police commissioner in the years that followed, and ends part 2 under arrest alongside the man he protected.

Why does Assane get himself locked up in prison in Lupin's second episode?

To question an old inmate. He swaps places with a prisoner to get in and then escapes, echoing an early Lupin story about a jailbreak from La Santé.

What halted filming of Lupin's third part for three days in February 2022?

A robbery. About 20 masked raiders stormed the shoot in a Paris suburb and made off with equipment worth some €300,000.

In Lupin's third part, Assane's pre-announced jewel theft draws a cheering crowd to which Paris square?

Place Vendôme. With police and fans watching the jeweller's from below, Assane makes his escape over the rooftops around the square.

In Lupin's third part, whose kidnapping forces Assane into a string of thefts for a blackmailer?

His mother. Mariama had stayed behind in Africa when he was a boy and took 25 years to reach Paris, only to be seized by his old mentor, Jean-Luc Keller.

In Lupin's third part, Assane watches over his son in disguise as his coach in which sport?

Basketball. As Alex the coach he wears full prosthetics, and it is Claire who finally works out who has been checking in on the family.

How does Lupin's third part end for Assane?

He gives himself up. It is his price for the people he loves to live in peace, and in jail he finds his old enemy Hubert Pellegrini in the next cell.

In Lupin's third part, Assane must steal Manet's Chez Tortoni, a painting that really vanished in a 1990 heist in which city?

Boston. It went in the still-unsolved raid on the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, so the show gets to imagine where the picture ended up: with a French gangster.

Lupin's composer says the show's score blends classical writing with what?

Hip hop beats. Composer Mathieu Lamboley wanted the music to do what Assane does with the books: carry an old heritage into the present day.

Where does Assane finally expose Hubert Pellegrini's crimes at the end of Lupin's second part?

At a charity concert. He slips into the tycoon's private box, records his confession, then steps on stage to accuse him in front of his own wealthy donors.

When Lupin launched in January 2021, which was the only Netflix series with a bigger first month?

Bridgerton. It had drawn 82 million households a few weeks earlier, yet Lupin's 76 million still made it Netflix's most-watched title of the first quarter of 2021.

In Lupin's third part, how does Assane get the police and the press off his family's backs?

By faking his own death. He stages a fatal fall, has Benjamin pose as the doctor who examines him, and is buried in a coffin with a way out.

In Lupin's first episode, what does the thieves' getaway car smash through at the end of the heist?

A glass pyramid. The production really did film inside the Louvre, but that stunt was not shot on site: the museum's famous entrance stayed in one piece.

Which prize did Lupin win for Best Foreign Language Series in January 2024?

Critics' Choice Award. The win came after its 2022 nominations for best drama at the Golden Globes and the International Emmys had both come to nothing.

Which book, the one Assane's father gives him in Lupin, shot up French bestseller lists after the show aired?

Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Burglar. Within days of the launch the 1907 story collection was back among France's top sellers, more than a century after it came out.

While filming Lupin's opening heist overnight in the Louvre, its star was left alone for 20 minutes with which painting?

The Mona Lisa. Cast and crew had the run of the galleries between shots that night, and he called it an experience he would never forget.

For Lupin's fourth part, its lead actor took on which new job behind the camera?

Showrunner. The actor whose wish to play Lupin started the series now steers it, sharing the job with Louis Leterrier, who directed its first episodes.