Romain Laugier

 Captain Romain Laugier is a main character in the first part of Lupin. He is portrayed by Vincent Londez.

Laugier is a captain in the Paris police force, tasked with hunting down the thief of Marie-Antoinette's necklace.

Part 1


After Vincent, Kevin and Rudy crash their Ferrari through the roof of the Louvre while attempting to get away with what they believe to be Marie-Antoinette's necklace, Laugier and several other police officers are called onto the scene, where they arrest the three men. Laugier quickly becomes suspicious of Assane, noting that he has never heard of Nanobay, the company of which "Paul Sernine" is the CEO. However, Assane is defended by Thibault, the auctioneer, and after briefly searching him, Laugier lets him go. Detective Youssef Guedira, who is assisting Laugier, tells him that events remind him of an Arsène Lupin story.

Soon afterwards, it becomes clear that the necklace that had been recovered from Vincent, Kevin and Rudy is a fake. Laugier immediately suspects "Paul Sernine." At around the same time, Juliette Pellegrini tips Laugier off that she will be meeting somebody in Luxembourg Gardens, and that this person has told her not to bring any police. At the park, Laugier plants cameras on several of his officers and disguises them in plain clothes, and hides recording equipment on Juliette. Soon, Assane arrives wearing sunglasses, a helmet and a Deli + Eat uniform, rendering him unrecognizable from far away. As he begins talking to Juliette, Assane blocks her microphone, preventing Laugier from being able to hear their conversation. When Assane leaves Juliette, Laugier orders his officers to catch him; however, Assane has ordered several other Deli + Eat deliveries to the park, and the confusion resulting from the police attempting to differentiate between a group of men who appear largely identical allows Assane to escape. Laugier is furious at having been outsmarted.



Afterwards, Laugier tells Juliette that based on the footage from the park, it appears that she and the suspect know each other, bringing up the possibility of collusion. Juliette demands to know if she is being interrogated, telling Laugier that she can call her laywers and get him fired in fifteen minutes. She claims that she told the man in the park that the detective in charge of the necklace case was a moron who had procured a plastic fake instead.

When news breaks that Dumont has been kidnapped from City Hall, Laugier leads a team of officers, including Sofia Belkacem and Guedira, to recover him. After Guedira manages to locate Dumont's phone in Pantin, a suburb to the northeast of Paris, the police begin moving towards him. Upon arriving at the scene, they arrest a man with a van which had previously been seen outside City Hall. When they search the van, they find a large box inside, which contains a clown doll and Dumont's phone. The man who owns the van tells them that he had been paid to drive around City Hall a number of times; Guedira begins to realize that Dumont is still inside the building, noting that the situation is similar to an Arsène Lupin plotline. Although both Belkacem and Laugier think that his idea is silly, they ultimately follow his hunch, and find Dumont shortly after Assane leaves the building.



Afterwards, Laugier, Belkacem and Guedira present Dumont with their theory that his kidnapper and the Louvre thief were the same person, noting that Dumont had been in charge of the original necklace investigation 25 years earlier, and that the two crimes appear to have a similar degree of showmanship. Dumont allows them to gather evidence, and they begin with facial reconstructions made based off of those who had seen "Sernine" or the kidnapper. However, all of the reconstructions look like different people, and Dumont tells them that none of them is his captor, including one made with the assistance of Vincent, one of the men who had assisted with the break in at the Louvre, which looks exactly like Assane. Dumont removes Guedira from the case, and tells Laugier and Belkacem that if they do not begin to find success soon, he will give it to another team.



On December 11, Laugier receives a text which purports to be from Paul Sernine on a train to Le Havre. Although Laugier initially suspects that somebody is trolling him, the sender reveals that he knows about a pen of "Sernine's" that he had examined during their first meeting at the Louvre. Stunned, Laugier calls the Le Havre police, telling them to meet the train at the station. As images of the arrested man filter back through to Paris, however, it becomes clear that it is not the one they are looking for (in fact, it is Leonard, who has been framed by Assane). Although Laugier and Belkacem intend to go to Le Havre in order to question Leonard, Dumont tells them that he has already been released due to his having had a rock-solid alibi for the time of the Louvre theft.

Personality and relationships
Laugier devotes his energies to excelling in his job as a police captain, and is able to quickly take charge in most situations. Approaching his work in a by-the-book fashion, he is committed to following direct orders from his superiors, and dislikes it when his associates bend the rules or think too far outside the box. He tends to be skeptical of theories he sees as fanciful, instead preferring to work with what can be clearly established as fact. These aspects of Laugier’s personality make it difficult for him and his team to catch Assane, which frustrates him deeply.

Although Laugier is open to Guedira’s idea that the necklace theft and Dumont’s kidnapping are connected in some way, he draws the line at the theory about their links to the Arsène Lupin stories. Laugier is particularly exasperated when Guedira argues with Dumont about the merits of this proposal, and after Dumont removes Guedira from the case, Laugier advises him to keep his head down.

Appearances

 * Part One


 * Chapter 1
 * Chapter 2
 * Chapter 3
 * Chapter 4
 * Chapter 5