Youssef Guedira

Youssef Guédira is a main character in the French thriller series Lupin. He is portrayed by Soufiane Guerrab.

Guédira is a detective in the Paris police force. After the theft of Marie-Antoinette's necklace from the Louvre, he is the first to recognize that the culprit was inspired by Arsène Lupin, although his ideas are initially not taken seriously by his colleagues. As he uncovers more evidence, Guédira begins to wonder whether the police are on the right side of the law.

Part 1
Guédira is one of the police officers to respond to Kevin, Vincent and Rudy crashing their Ferrari into the Pyramide Inversée at the Louvre. He remarks to his captain, Romain Laugier, that the situation reminds him of an Arsène Lupin story, but Laugier pays this little heed. After the necklace the the police had recovered is discovered to be a fake, the businessman who had bought it, "Paul Sernine" (who has seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth) becomes the prime suspect. Guédira checks testimony given by Vincent, Kevin and Rudy, and finds that they referred to their accomplice, who was the same man, as "Luis Perenna." After realizing that both "Paul Sernine" and "Luis Perenna" are anagrams of "Arsène Lupin," Guédira decides that the crimes have a connection to Lupin in some way. However, Sofia Belkacem discourages him from coming forward with these ideas.



After Commissioner Dumont is kidnapped from the town hall of Paris' third arrondissement, Guédira is able to locate his phone in Pantin; however, when he, Laugier, Belkacem and several other officers arrive on the scene, they find a van with a case inside it that contains a clown doll and Dumont's phone. After the driver of the van testifies that a man in an orange beanie had paid him to drive around City Hall several times and then got out again, Guédira realizes that Assane and Dumont never left the town hall, noting that this too is reminiscent of an Arsène Lupin story. Although Laugier and Belkacem are initially skeptical, they follow Guédira's hunch and find Dumont in a small dark room in the depths of the building. However, they are too late to catch Assane, who had left the scene minutes earlier.

Later, Guédira tells Laugier that he believes that Dumont's kidnapper and the Louvre thief are the same person, pointing out that Dumont had been in charge of the original case of the Queen's Necklace in 1995. Guédira, along with Laugier and Belkacem, presents this thesis to Dumont. To Laugier's annoyance, Guédira begins discussing his Lupin theory, leading Dumont to make fun of him. However, Dumont allows the detectives to begin gathering evidence in support of their proposition. The three begin by making facial reconstructions of "Paul Sernine," "Luis Perenna" and Dumont's kidnapper based on the testimony of those who had interacted with Assane.

When presented with the reconstructions, Dumont points out that they all look different from one another. He claims that none of them (including a highly accurate portrait made with the help of Vincent) are his kidnapper, and orders the detectives to stop trying to connect the events. He threatens to kick the team off the case; as an added punishment for being the driving force behind the theory, he removes Guédira from the team and gives him paperwork to do instead.



Guédira is not convinced that Dumont is telling the truth about the identity of his kidnapper, noticing that he had seemed to recognize Vincent's reconstruction. He tells Laugier and Belkacem of his suspicions; Belkacem admits that the situation seems odd. Laugier, on the other hand, reminds Guédira that he has been dropped from the team, and warns him not to cause any more trouble.

Later, as he is filling out paperwork, Guédira watches The Other Edition, and comes to figure out that beneath the wrinkles and large, greying beard, "Salvator" is the same person as "Sernine" and "Perenna." The next morning, Guédira wakes up to find a notification on his phone telling him that it is Maurice Leblanc's bithday, and that a celebratory Arsène Lupin festival is being held in the Norman town of Étretat, where Leblanc had lived. On a hunch, he decides to call in sick.

Part 2


Guédira boards a train bound for Normandy. Unbeknownst to him, it is the same train that Assane, Claire, Raoul and Léonard are on. After arriving in Étretat, Guédira walks around the promenade, observing his surroundings. He sees Claire on the beach, desperately calling her son's name. Turning towards the parking lot, he witnesses Raoul being roughly thrown into the back seat of a car by Léonard, and then driven away. Finally, he sees Assane, who looks exactly like his witness sketch, yelling the same name as Claire. Guédira walks up behind Assane and says, “Lupin?”

Assane turns around, confused. Guédira asks him if he is looking for a child dressed up in an Arsène Lupin costume. Claire, overhearing the conversation, runs towards the two and breathlessly tells Guédira that she and Assane are searching for their son, a fourteen-year-old, mixed-race boy with a top hat. In her description, Guédira recognizes the boy he saw being driven away, and informs both worried parents. They dash to the parking lot and Guédira follows them, telling them that the pair left in a grey BMW.

Assane demands to know what the kidnapper looked like. Guédira describes him as a skinny, bearded Black man wearing a beige raincoat. To her horror, Claire realizes that Raoul has been abducted by Léonard. She grows hysterical, yelling that the kidnapping was Assane’s fault. Guédira awkwardly stands in the middle of the situation while Assane breaks into a car, exhorting Claire not to contact the police. Thinking quickly, Guédira offers to help chase Léonard down. After a moment’s hesitation Assane agrees, and the two drive off, leaving Claire behind in Étretat.



Assane and Guédira speed through the Norman countryside. Examining a map, Guédira realizes that Léonard and Raoul must have passed through the town of Bourneville. He tells Assane that they need to stop in the town so that he can call his wife, and Assane reluctantly agrees. The two arrive in Bourneville, where, unbeknownst to them, Léonard is still waiting. While Assane asks passers-by (to no avail) whether they have seen Léonard and Raoul, Guédira enters a local pub and calls Belkacem, telling her that he has “Sernine” and needs assistance. Belkacem is stunned, and agrees to drive over. When Assane enters the pub, Guédira, aware that Assane believes him to be talking to his wife, awkwardly tells Belkacem that he loves her and hangs up. Assane makes another fruitless attempt to solicit information about Raoul, when Guédira sees Léonard racing out of town. They dash to their car and follow him.

The two locate Léonard and tail him to an abandoned mansion. As they enter the grounds, Guédira notes that Assane appears to have received a message from Raoul. Assane texts back, telling Raoul that they should “do like Lupin does with his daughter in Cagliostro.” Guédira points out that Arsène Lupin had a son, not a daughter; Assane asks him if he is a fan of the series and Guédira responds that he is. Assane tells him that Raoul is also a fan, and will correct the error. However, the returning message fails to catch the mistake, revealing that Léonard is in possession of Raoul’s phone.

The pair exit the car. Assane marches onto a grassy field directly in front of the house. Confused by his brazen attitude, Guédira steals into the bushes. Assane calls Léonard and tells him that if he hurts Raoul, he will kill him. After hanging up, he turns and walks back to the car. Guédira runs up to him and suggests contacting the police. Assane disdainfully responds that the police are either corrupt, incompetent or both. Guédira tries to convince Assane that this is not fair, but Assane remains firm, asserting that the police are working with his son’s kidnapper.



After they have re-entered the car, Assane asks Guédira how much time will pass before his colleagues from the police station show up. Guédira is surprised and attempts to feign ignorance, but Assane presses him, revealing that he is aware that Guédira is a police detective. Guédira admits that he has been searching for Assane for weeks, and that he was the only one who was able to figure out Assane’s tricks. He tells Assane that he would have arrested him had he been armed. Assane comments that Guédira is like Ganimard, the inspector who repeatedly attempted (in vain) to catch Arsène Lupin. Again, he asks Guédira how much time he has; this time, Guédira responds that he has approximately an hour. Assane gets out of the car, and Guédira attempts to follow him, but finds that Assane has tied him up and taken his badge and phone.

When night falls, Guédira manages to break the car’s window with his foot, and uses a shard of the glass to cut the wire that Assane has used as a binding. Upon escaping, he sees Léonard’s burning car and hears Raoul desperately shouting for help from inside it. Guédira is horrified, and manages to open the boot of the car with a makeshift crowbar. After Guédira has saved Raoul, the two dash away from the mansion back to the other car. Léonard attempts to shoot them with a hunting rifle, but Guédira and Raoul reach the vehicle and get inside. Raoul asks Guédira who he is; Guédira responds that he is a police officer who is friends with Assane.



As they drive towards Paris, Guédira tells Raoul that he and Assane share a passion for Arsène Lupin. Raoul asks Guédira who his favorite character is, and Guédira responds that it is Ganimard, as both are cops. When Guédira asks Raoul the same question, Raoul chooses Lupin himself, since the character reminds him of Assane. Upon arriving at the apartment building where Raoul lives with his mother, Guédira is confused to find a group of undercover police officers waiting outside. One of them introduces himself as Pascal Oblet and tells Guédira to take Raoul to the Park Hyatt hotel at Dumont’s orders.

Guédira is confused, but complies. When he and Raoul arrive at the hotel, Dumont greets them and tells Guédira that he underestimated him. Guédira asks Dumont why he was ordered to bring Raoul to the Hyatt; Dumont tells him that the case was deemed to be of high importance and that he will be examining it personally, and that he has reason to believe that Raoul is in danger. Guédira pointedly tells Dumont that he still doesn’t understand why they are at the hotel. Dumont becomes annoyed, and asks Guédira if he needs to be convinced to obey direct orders. Guédira relents, and leaves Raoul with Dumont. Later, when he arrives at the police station, he receives an envelope containing his cell phone, his badge and a note reading “Merci Ganimard.”



Some time later, Guédira gets a call from Assane, who again addresses him as “Ganimard” and tells him to be at the Café Paul at 10:00 in the morning on Monday, alone. In surprise, Guédira spills his coffee on his shirt. Assane recommends cold water to clean out the stain; Guédira is shocked to learn that he is being watched and looks around, but is unable to find Assane. However, he decides to follow Assane’s order and is at the café when Anne Pellegrini arrives and comes forth with evidence about her husband’s criminal misdeeds in the 1990s. Guédira and Laugier use the information to arrest Hubert. Afterwards, while Laugier and Belkacem interrogate Hubert, Guédira monitors the proceedings from his computer. He is disappointed when a phone call from the Minister of the Interior forces the squad to let Hubert go. Laugier urges Guédira and Belkacem to look on the bright side, pointing out that Hubert gave them the name “Assane Diop.”

Guédira remembers Claire from the day in Étretat, and he and Belkacem bring her in for questioning. Claire claims not to know where Assane lives, which the two police officers find difficult to believe. Guédira asks Claire about the men he found outside her apartment building when he brought Raoul home. Claire again denies any knowledge of the situation, even when Guédira, now irritated by her uncooperative behavior, tells her that they looked like undercover police officers. Belkacem tells Claire that they will post men around her building in case Assane comes back. Claire says that Assane will not be back, as she does not want him around Raoul.

Guédira is one of the officers who responds to Pascal’s distress call at Assane’s apartment. The police find Léonard’s dead body and Assane is immediately suspected of the murder. Guédira, however, is mainly fascinated with Assane’s massive collection of Arsène Lupin memorabilia, including a number of top hats and a menorah. Afterwards, Belkacem notices that Guédira seems depressed. She attempts to cheer him up by pointing out that he was right about everything, but Guédira reveals that he is no longer sure that he was correct about Assane being Lupin. Belkacem reminds him of Assane’s immense store of Lupin books and trinkets, and his strikingly similar criminal history. Guédira tells Belkacem that were she an expert on the series, she would understand that Lupin never kills, while Assane appears to have murdered Léonard, which Guédira finds to be an insurmountable flaw in his theory. Mildly exasperated, Belkacem responds that Arsène Lupin is a fictional character, while Assane is a real person with real motivations.



Laugier receives orders to visit Benjamin’s shop in order to collect evidence and takes Belkacem with him but leaves Guédira at the station. While there, Guédira receives a notification that a new story about Assane has been released. After scrolling through the article, Guédira sees a comment consisting of incoherent gibberish written by a user named “Ganimard.” Immediately, he suspects that Assane is attempting to contact him, and manages to unscramble the letters to reveal the phrase “la lampe juive” (the Jewish lamp). When Guédira remembers the menorah from Assane’s apartment, he races to the crime scene and manages to collect it. After bringing it back to the police station, he is stunned to find a USB drive in one of the candles. He plugs it into his computer and finds an archive of papers surrounding Babakar’s imprisonment and death, as well as incriminating footage from Assane’s inquisition of Dumont.

The next day, Belkacem tells Guédira that they have new evidence suggesting that Assane was not Léonard’s murderer. Guédira motions for Belkacem to come to his work station; when she does, he plays her the video from Assane’s USB drive. Laugier arrives and asks what they are doing, and Guédira plays him the footage as well. The three officers meet together in the interrogation room, where Guédira explains that Léonard and Babakar were in prison together, and points out that Dumont would not allow Laugier and Belkacem to question Léonard at Le Havre. Belkacem comments that Dumont must have taken Guédira off the case because he was getting too close to the truth. All three officers agree that Dumont has committed a number of criminal acts, and resolve to attend the Pellegrinis’ concert at the Théâtre du Châtelet that night in order to arrest him.

Guédira, Laugier and Belkacem are allowed into the theater after they flash their police badges, at which point they take seats near the back of the hall and observe Dumont intently. When he gets up in the middle of the performance, they follow him and find him backstage, pointing his gun at Assane. However, the three direct their own firearms at him and tell him to drop his weapon. While Dumont demands that his officers arrest Assane, Laugier places the horrified commissioner under arrest for corruption and influence peddling. Assane, meanwhile, attempts to escape. Belkacem commands him to stay put, but Guédira urges her to let him go.



In the wake of the chaos caused by Assane’s public accusations against Hubert, Guédira is shocked when he receives a message containing audio of Hubert’s full confession to all of his crimes, recorded by Assane. He finds Hubert and arrests him for planning the murders of Babakar and Fabienne Bériot, as well as Raoul’s kidnapping. Hubert barely manages to smirk at Guédira before being put in a squad car. As he and Dumont are driven to the police station, Guédira and Belkacem smile at one another.

Personality
Guédira is intelligent, open-minded and insightful, but he tends to come across to his co-workers as an introverted and scattered geek, with Sofia Belkacem even commenting that he always looks ill. His most notable trait is his ability draw from unexpected sources in order to build his theories. As Guédira is not inclined to dismiss the seemingly whimsical, he is able to spot what others have overlooked. This ultimately allows him, and only him, to connect the dots regarding Assane’s source of inspiration.



Although Guédira is generally not a confrontational person and is able to take criticism and teasing at his expense in stride, his need to prove that he was right about the Arsène Lupin connection led to conflict with his fellow detectives. Belkacem and Romain Laugier, exasperated with his behavior, initially advised him to drop these lines of research, and his commissioner, fearing that was getting too near the truth, removed him from the necklace case entirely. Despite this reception, Guédira did not waver from his beliefs, as he was convinced he was correct, and continued to quietly investigate the situation after being assigned stacks of paperwork to do.

Generally, Guédira is the most likely of the officers to break with official protocol in order to pursue his leads; as a result of his relatively low rank within the department he is able to do this with greater ease than Laugier and Belkacem. Guédira’s willingness to follow his own hunches no matter what is told to him by others allows him to build up a rapport with Assane, which serves him well when he begins to seriously suspect his own superiors of foul play.



Guédira pores over his ideas in order to ensure that they make sense, becoming visibly frustrated when he has found something that does not fit into the puzzle. Occasionally, he overlooks concrete evidence that is right in front of his eyes. For example, Guédira began to doubt his idea that Assane was playing Arsène Lupin after it seemed that he had murdered Léonard, because a true devotee of the series would have known that “Lupin doesn't kill.” It was left to Belkacem to remind Guédira that Assane’s apartment was brimming with Arsène Lupin memorabilia, and that the motivations of fictional characters and real people often differ. Ultimately, however, Guédira's suspicions were proved to be well-founded when it transpired that Assane was not responsible for Léonard's death.

Like Assane, Guédira is an Arsène Lupin aficionado, keeping copies of the stories at his desk at work and receiving phone notifications about Lupin-related dates, such as Maurice Leblanc’s birthday. Guédira identifies with the character of Inspector Ganimard, as they are both policemen. Although he understands the gravity of the investigation he is working on, Guédira is nonetheless thrilled to find himself part of a real-life Lupin adventure, and enjoys decoding the secret messages and puzzles left for him by Assane, who calls him “Ganimard.”

Despite his friendship with Assane, Guédira is shown to struggle when it comes to interpersonal relations. He is somewhat blunt, and while he does occasionally try to lighten the mood by making jokes, these often turn out to be awkward or inappropriate to the situation. He is generally the least assertive of the officers on the squad, but can take decisive action when the situation calls for it.

Belkacem


Of his co-workers, Guédira appears to be closest with Sofia Belkacem. The two have a friendly rapport, although Belkacem is occasionally annoyed by Guédira’s absentminded behavior and emphasis on theoretical correctness over practical action. Still, Belkacem was the first person to whom Guédira pitched his Arsène Lupin theory, although she did not see much merit in it at first. He texted her to claim that he was sick when he skipped work in order to go to Étretat, and called her for assistance after he found Assane. While Guédira was on the phone with Belkacem in Bourneville, he was forced to tell her that he loved her in order to conceal his identity as a police officer. Although Belkacem found this odd, she did not press Guédira for an explanation.

Later, Belkacem attempted to cheer Guédira up when he was struggling to reconcile Léonard’s murder with his understanding that anyone inspired by Arsène Lupin would not be a killer. After the concert at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Belkacem was with Guédira when he arrested Hubert Pellegrini.

Other colleagues
Although Romain Laugier and Guédira respected one another, they sometimes found themselves at loggerheads, as Laugier’s insistence on following rules and protocols conflicted with Guédira’s readiness to propose more novel ways of approaching the situation. Eventually, however, Guédira was able to use hard evidence to convince Laugier both that he was right about Assane, and that Commissioner Dumont was corrupt. Laugier took this to heart and brought Belkacem and Guédira to the Théâtre du Châtelet to ensure that justice was upheld.

Dumont seemed to regard Guédira as a troublesome subordinate; however, much of this was due to his (fully justified) fear that Guédira was going to uncover his collusion-filled past. Guédira was indeed the first of the officers to suspect Dumont of foul play, and his distrust was only enhanced when he received orders from the commissioner to bring Raoul to the Hyatt hotel instead of simply taking him home. These suspicions were confirmed when Guédira found the footage from Assane’s interrogation.

Assane


Even though they are working on opposite sides of the law, Guédira and Assane have developed a strong degree of respect for one another. Guédira was the first person to link Assane to the Arsène Lupin stories, as they were both fans of the character. Despite skepticism from his colleagues, he continued to pursue his lead and eventually found Assane in Étretat. Immediately, Guédira was confronted with a situation he had not prepared for when he found out that Assane’s son had been kidnapped; however, he was able to think quickly, and offered to accompany Assane on his search. Even so, Assane was able to figure out that Guédira was working for the police.

Assane sent Guédira a thank-you message after finding out the detective had rescued his son. Although Guédira did want to catch Assane, his his undeniable fascination with being a real-life Ganimard led him to play along with Assane's ploys. It was Guédira to whom Assane told Juliette to send Anne Pellegrini, and to whom he wrote a secret message after Léonard’s murder, which helped Guédira uncover evidence of Dumont’s corruption. By the time of the concert at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Guédira was willing to let Assane temporarily walk free, feeling that bringing Dumont to justice was a greater concern.

Raoul
After Guédira saved Raoul from Léonard, the pair bonded briefly over their shared interest in Arsène Lupin, discussing their favorite characters during the drive back to Paris from the Norman mansion. Guédira was amused when Raoul declared that Assane reminded him of Lupin.

Appearances

 * Part One


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


 * Part Two


 * Chapter 6
 * Chapter 7
 * Chapter 8
 * Chapter 9
 * Chapter 10

Quotes
"The pseudonyms used—Paul Sernine and Luis Perenna—both are anagrams of Arsène Lupin. And then the method, the panache, the style, the talent. I really think that the suspect is playing at being Arsène Lupin."

- Guédira presents his theory

"I've been looking for you for weeks. I was the only one who figured it out."

- Guédira to Assane

"He's a cop, like me."

- Guédira explains why Ganimard is his favorite character in the Arsène Lupin books

"Lupin never kills."

- Guédira points out a flaw in his theory

"He’s Assane’s counterpart, really. If you forget they’re on opposite sides of the law, they’re both just Arsène Lupin geeks!"

- Omar Sy on Guédira

Etymology
Youssef is an alternate spelling of the Arabic name Yusuf, derived from the Biblical Hebrew name Yosef, which means “he will add.” This origin is the same as that of the male name Joseph and variants including José and Giuseppe.

Guédira is a surname most frequently found in the North African countries Morocco and Algeria. It was likely chosen due to its similarity to the surname of Inspector Justin Ganimard, whose role in the original Arsène Lupin books Guédira mimics. In fact, Guédira names Ganimard as his favorite character in the Lupin stories.

Trivia

 * Guédira is of North African descent.
 * The passcode to Guédira's phone is 0813, a reference to the Arsène Lupin story 813.
 * Guédira has Assane's number entered into his phone under the name "Lupin."
 * Like Ganimard, he has a G, an A, an I and a D in his name.
 * Although Guédira's police badge (posted on Shirine Boutella's instagram account) states that he is officially a lieutenant, he is never referred to as such and seems to rank below Belkacem in the police hierarchy.
 * Soufiane Guerrab is one of four actors who have appeared in every episode of the series thus far. The other three are Omar Sy, Ludivine Sagnier and Hervé Pierre.
 * With more than 15,000 votes, Guédira is ranked as the 2nd most popular character in the series on the online tracking platform TV Time.