Lupin is back! Omar Sy is ridiculously watchable and effortlessly charming as a blindingly brilliant thief

If you’re not watching Lupin, you’re missing out on one of the most charming, thrilling and twisty capers of all time. Netflix’s adaptation of the popular French drama first hit our screens back in 2021 and it is the most wildly ambitious – and successful – to date. The brilliant writing, terrific ensemble cast and the effortless charm and panache of its lead actor, Omar Sy, make it ridiculously watchable.

The series is based on the adventures of Arsène Lupin, conceived by the French author Maurice LeBlanc. In France, Lupin is an almost totemic cultural figure. LeBlanc penned 24 books about the definitive gentleman thief in his lifetime, the first being 1907’s Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Cambrioleur. And the 119-year-old character is everything readers crave: suave, mysterious and cunning, with an unerring ability to run circles around law enforcement.

In the Netflix series, which is now in its fourth series, Assane Diop (Sy) is a blindingly brilliant thief who has modelled himself after his hero – Lupin.

“We grew up with him,” Sy says, speaking to me via Zoom about Lupin. “We had shows, we had so many movies … the Japanese anime from when we were kids and, of course, the books, so it really was all around us.”

Diop is a fresh take on the Lupin legend. “It was very natural and organic for me to think about maybe having my own vision of this character,” Sy says. “Because I’d always been watching him, you know? I wanted to create my version of him.”

During the interval between the show’s seasons, France experienced a real-life museum heist, though perhaps not one worthy of a master thief like Diop.

“Actually, I was so surprised to see that happen,” Sy says, grinning. “Seeing people try, and then really do it, you know? It took me a lot of time to process and really believe it happened.

“And when that passed, I was a little bit … well, feeling a little bit guilty that I could have inspired something like that. And after that, at some point, you become very cynical … like, hey, maybe it’s a good advertisement for the show?”

What makes the series so appealing is how analogue Diop’s schemes feel. There are smatterings of tech involved but by and large the capers are classic thievery, rife with deceptively simple misdirects. One of the tools in his arsenal? Good old-fashioned disguises.

“Lupin is my best toy,” Sy says, “because I get to play a character … who plays characters, you know? I always have this picture of putting a mirror in front of another mirror – there are infinite doors opening, it’s endless. There are so many things you can do with him. That’s why we have four seasons, and we could do 10 more! He’s so inspiring, and he’s such a joy to play.”

Sy caught the world’s attention with his leading role in The Intouchables, becoming the first black actor to win France’s coveted César award for best actor in 2012. Since then he has become colossally famous – and instantly recognisable.

Would he ever wear one of Diop’s disguises in public? “No, but it’s not that far from the truth!” he says. “The FX guy I work with, for the prosthetics on the show, we started to talk about one mask we could work on that I can put on my face and go to a concert, [take] the metro and all of that … we really started to talk about it very, very seriously.”

The first three seasons of Lupin are fascinatingly propulsive in that they tell one long, protracted story with ever-increasing stakes. In the books, Lupin flits in and out of strangers’ lives. In the show, Diop finds himself fighting an uphill battle as the odds stack up against him.

Season four opens with him facing public notoriety, a nemesis with a grudge and nobody in his corner to back him. Will Lupin ever go straight? Give up his perilous life of crime?

“I love the fact that all the characters besides him and the audience, the viewers, know that that will never happen,” Sy says. “And I’m so happy for that, because the audience is always completely with us and it’s also very, you know … touching, that he really tries, you know? He really wants that, to escape his life of crime, but everyone knows that will never happen.”

It’s mind-boggling that Lupin is as consistently excellent as it is. There not a single wasted minute of screentime. And even if you’ve seen it already, and know how Diop pulls off his increasingly complex schemes, a rewatch from the beginning will give you a newfound appreciation for the dazzling cleverness of it all.

“Putting back on the coat and being on set was really a relief for me,” Sy says, laughing. It’s a relief for us too.

• Lupin is available on Netflix in Australia, the UK and the US. Find more recommendations of what to stream in Australia here