A Release Date for Lupin Part 2 Has Been Announced
[Spoilers for Lupin Part 1 ahead.]
If Bridgerton blessed us with the irresistibly charming Duke of Hastings, Lupin has given us the impossibly charismatic Assane Diop.
The figure of Arsène Lupin—the gentleman thief and master of disguise created by novelist Maurice Leblanc in 1905—looms large in the cultural fabric of France and has clearly proven to have staying power on this side of the Atlantic, too. Part 1 of Lupin premiered on Netflix in January and turned out to be a massive success for the streaming giant, becoming the first French show to make it onto its top 10 list.
For the uninitiated, Lupin centers around protagonist Assane (played by Omar Sy), who uses the famous novels as blueprints for his own master plan: to get revenge on a wealthy tycoon named Hubert Pellegrini, who framed his father Babakar for stealing a multimillion-dollar necklace and sent him to prison, where he died of an apparent suicide.
Through five well-crafted episodes, Assane pulls off various exploits—from staging an impressive jewelry heist at the Louvre to kidnapping a police commissioner to interrogate his involvement in the cover-up—in an effort to get closer to exonerating his father and exposing Pellegrini's evil. He also painstakingly compartmentalizes his life, ensuring his ex-girlfriend Claire and their son Raoul remain ignorant of the perilous parts of his job, though Assane does attempt to bond with Raoul by introducing him to—and getting him hooked on—Arsène Lupin in much the same way his own father once ignited his passion for the novels.
In the last episode of part 1, the trio head to the coastal town of Etretat to attend a festival in honor of the literary character. Also en route: Pellegrini's head henchman Leonard, on orders to kill Assane. Plus, to complicate matters even further, so is a detective, Youssef, who has figured out that Assane has been behind all of the Lupin-esque capers taking place around Paris. Part 1 ends on a major cliffhanger: Raoul has been kidnapped by Leonard, and Youssef has caught up with Assane.
Last month, Netflix released a teaser for part 2, which is due out this summer, and it's clear from the clip (above) that the stakes will be much higher for Assane. Pellegrini is a man with no scruples when it comes to getting what he wants, even if it means using a man's child as bait. Showrunner George Kay recently hinted that this installment will also delve deeper into Assane's father's life and his relationship with his son, plus expand the storylines for supporting characters. "[It] really fills in where [Assane] comes from and how he got here, and why he now needs to finish that part of his story," he told Rolling Stone. The best news of all? Kay is already at work on writing part 3.
There is undeniably a thicker layer of danger this time around but if there is anything we've learned from the first installment of Lupin, it's this: never underestimate Assane. Like the iconic master of disguise who inspires and propels his every move, he always seems to have something up his sleeve—even when he has to improvise—and more often than not, he can be counted on to accomplish his tricks with a knowing wink.
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