TV series Lupin 2 back to steal the show on Netflix
Paris – Five months after it became the first major streaming hit of 2021, Lupin will return on June 11 with fans desperate to see how Omar Sy’s gentleman-burglar escapes the latest cliffhanger.
Netflix delivered only the first five episodes of the show in January, inspired by the cat-and-mouse novels of Maurice Leblanc from the early 20th century, because the pandemic interrupted filming last year.
Sy plays Assane Diop, a fan of the novels who uses the character of Lupin as he seeks vengeance for his wrongly-accused father.
The combination of a charismatic lead, Parisian backdrops and an undercurrent of race relations made it the first bona fide made-in-France hit for Netflix, which is investing heavily in the country.
But despite the winning ingredients, Sy himself seemed rather perplexed when asked why it was so popular.
“I really don’t know!” he told reporters at a Netflix round-table, laughing.
Enjoy back to back episodes of your favourite shows with the latest home electronics at discounted prices with Shopee Promo Codes
“When something like that happens the thing is just to embrace it and don’t try to understand. It’s just beautiful, I’m very happy and thrilled.”
Writer George Kay, who also helped pen recent TV hits Criminal and Killing Eve, said the season takes a tense turn in the second half.
Assane finds himself “in a conflicted situation: do I keep pushing to get revenge for my father or do I focus on being a good dad”.
But Kay, who worked alongside French writer Francois Uzan, said Lupin remained a family-friendly show and “the central thing is to make it as fun as possible”.
Paris retains its starring role in the new season, with the Musee d’Orsay, catacombs and Chatelet Theatre making for sumptuous backdrops to the action.
Dubbed into some 15 languages and subtitled into 30, Lupin topped the Netflix charts in a dozen countries in January, including the first time a French show had done so in the US.
The company said 76 million households watched the first instalment in the first 28 days after its release.
Lupin has also been a boost for French bookshops, with new editions of Maurice Leblanc’s classics racking up more than 100,000 sales since January, according to publisher Hachette.
A smart social media campaign has also helped the show, with one ad featuring Sy in disguise putting up a poster on the Paris metro.
A recent post snuck a web address (assane-diop.com) into a trailer, and the website revealed that a third instalment of Lupin is already on the way. - AFP
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
