Assane Diop

Assane Diop is the protagonist of the French thriller series Lupin. He is portrayed by Omar Sy, while his 14-year-old counterpart is portrayed by Mamadou Haidara.

Assane takes the famous literary gentleman thief and master of disguise, Arsène Lupin, as his inspiration. His life was changed forever when his father Babakar was imprisoned for stealing a centuries-old necklace once belonging to Marie-Antoinette, which was under Hubert Pellegrini's possession. After Babakar died in prison, Assane began to use his talents to avenge his father's death and outwit those who stood in his way. However, he struggles to balance his quest for revenge with his commitments to his ex-wife and son.

1995
While out walking one day, Assane and Babakar stumble upon Anne Pellegrini, whose car has gotten stuck. However, when they offer to help, she locks her door. Babakar explains that he is her husband's new chauffeur, and offers to try to fix her vehicle. Anne relents, and urges Assane to get into the car, where she asks him where they come from. Assane tells her that they are from Senegal. Anne also asks Assane where his mother is; he does not respond. Babakar insists on driving Anne home, and she agrees, telling Assane that his father is a gentleman.

As one of the perks of being the son of their chauffeur, Assane is granted the use of the Pellegrinis' swimming pool. One day, he arrives for a swim and sees Hubert and Anne's daughter Juliette lying near the pool smoking a cigarette. Juliette asks Assane if he is the driver's son; Assane responds that he is, and reveals that he will be fourteen the following week. Juliette tells Assane that if he swims to her, she will kiss him. Assane doggy-paddles his way to Juliette, and kisses her when he reaches the other side.

After Babakar is wrongfully accused of stealing the Pellegrinis' necklace and convicted, Assane visits him in prison. On one of his visit days, a guard finds that Babakar has hanged himself. Assane buries his father, joined by Anne Pellegrini, who offers her condolences and tells him that she will help him in any way he can. Assane, blaming the Pellegrini family for his father's death, insults her and leaves. Later, Assane searches through his father's possessions and finds a book of stories about Arsène Lupin, which had been intended as a present for his birthday. Assane begins to read the book, and is immediately enthralled.

Some time after Babakar's death, Dumont arrives at Assane's apartment, where he has continued to live. He questions Assane about his situation; Assane lies about his age, claiming to be sixteen, and says that he is living with his mother. Dumont is well aware that Assane is not telling the truth, and informs him that he will be taken to social services. Inspired by Arsène Lupin, Assane attempts to escape out of the window, but is caught by Dumont. He is brought to an orphanage, where a social worker gives him a bible.



While at the orphanage, Assane witnesses a girl about his age being harassed by a group of boys. He manages to successfully diffuse the situation, and sits down next to the girl, who tells him that there are two kinds of men, knights (like Assane, who believe women need saving) or barbarians (like the gang of boys, who rudely invade others' space), and that both types bother her equally. Feeling that she may have been overly unfriendly, she also says that she has heard about what happened to his father, and that she is sorry for his loss. The girl introduces herself as Claire.

Later, while Assane and Claire are reading in a nearby park, the same boys appear and begin teasing them. Despite Claire's warnings, Assane fights them and gets injured. Afterwards, Claire tends to Assane's wounds. Assane tries to kiss her, and Claire laughs, telling him that she is not in need of a boyfriend, although she admits that he is her only male friend and is thus technically "the man of her life." Assane shows her a lighter that he had stolen from the boys while fighting them; Claire is surprised and amused.

Over time, Assane and Claire spend more and more time together. Claire asks Assane whether he ever gets bored reading the same Arsène Lupin book over and over; Assane tells her that he doesn't, since he learns something new every time. He also mentions that he thinks that there are three kinds of men, the third type being somebody who "plays the game but respects the rules" and only cares about what matters: the "gentleman." Claire is moved by this and kisses Assane, telling him that she likes the idea that they will always be there for one another.

Assane's stay in the orphanage ends when he is informed by the social worker that somebody has paid for him to attend the College d’Andrésy, one of the best schools in France. He also gives Assane a letter from Babakar, in which the latter appears to confess to his guilt of the crime of stealing the necklace. Soon afterward, Assane begins attending the College, where he is almost immediately bullied by several boys due to his race and his poverty. However, another boy intervenes, ordering the group to back off unless they want him to report them. The student who helped Assane tells him that his name is Benjamin. Benjamin and Assane quickly become best friends. The two frequently get up to mischief, for example skipping classes in order to explore the Catacombs of Paris. Benjamin also meets Assane's other friends, most notably Claire, whom Assane has continued to see even after his transfer to the College d'Andrésy.

One day, Assane encounters Claire leaving her violin lesson in distress. He follows her to the shop of a local luthier, Lorenzo Calligari. Claire shows Lorenzo her instrument, which has been destroyed by another student. Lorenzo tells her that it will cost more to fix it than it will to buy a new one, and offers her a violin from his shelf. Assane grins to himself while he listens to Claire testing out the instrument. However, when she is done playing, Lorenzo tells her that the violin costs 3,000 francs, more than her budget will allow. Assane walks up behind her and asks Lorenzo if the pair can rent the violin. Lorenzo tells Assane that they can in theory, but that he will not rent it to Assane specifically. Both teenagers are flabbergasted by this response, but Lorenzo is stubborn, claiming that as it is his store, he can do as he likes. As Claire drags Assane out of the shop, he calls the luthier a racist.

Assane discusses the problem with Benjamin, and, inspired by Arsène Lupin, comes up with a plan to commit his first major theft by stealing the violin from Lorenzo's shop. While Lorenzo is on a break, Assane enters the shop while Benjamin keeps watch. He decides to steal the most expensive violin in the store, with the intention of bringing it back once Claire has finished an important audition. He later presents Claire with the violin; she is overjoyed but questions how he got it. Assane assures Claire that he did not steal it, rather having borrowed it, and asks her to play for him. Claire tells Assane to come to her audition, where he will be able to hear her.

Assane and Benjamin attend the audition, where Assane happily listens to Claire's playing. All seems to be going well until Lorenzo enters with a pair of policemen and points out Claire and Assane. When she sees the police officers staring at her, Claire drops her bow in horror. She and Assane are escorted out of the building; as they are leaving, Assane tells Benjamin that he really believed that the pair were as good as Arsène Lupin.

In the aftermath of the theft, Assane's place at the College d'Andrésy is threatened. Shortly before he is set to have a meeting with Monsieur Bouchard, the director, Assane hears Bouchard's answering machine pick up a message from Lorenzo, who states that Assane should be expelled. Assane quickly steals the tape before Bouchard arrives. When the two finally have their meeting, Bouchard tells Assane that he has reached out to Lorenzo and asked him what he believes Assane's punishment should be. Assane quickly asks Bouchard what will happen if Lorenzo never answers; Bouchard informs him that he will simply go to the shop and ask him in person. To get around the issue, Assane later places a call to Bouchard from a pay phone, assuming a deep voice to pose as Lorenzo and recommending that he (Assane) be given another chance. Bouchard, never having heard Lorenzo speak before, falls for the ruse, and Assane is permitted to stay at the school.

Also during this time, Assane sees Juliette occasionally. This ends, however, when Hubert learns of their meetings and bans Juliette from talking to Assane.

2006
Assane has decided to style himself after Arsène Lupin both in behavior and profession, having become a prolific petty thief. One day, he impersonates a plain-clothes police officer, managing to fool two actual officers and infiltrating the apartments of the wealthy Agatha Van Der Meulen. Assane asks her if she has an alarm; she replies that she does not. Assane tells Agatha that this is unfortunate, as thieves who, he claims, had already broken into the building would do so again. He recommends that she leave him with her most valuable items, which he will take to the station. Agatha obliges, and tells Assane that he is a gentleman. After leaving the apartment building, he receives a call from Claire, who asks him if they can meet in a quiet restaurant for dinner.



Later that day, Assane has lunch with Benjamin, who has found a spot for an antique shop he is planning to open. Assane gifts Benjamin some of the jewelry he had previously stolen from Agatha, so that he can sell it in the shop. Juliette Pellegrini walks into the restaurant, and Assane excuses himself and goes to meet her in the bathroom. Assane asks Juliette to stop following him, as he wants to stop cheating on Claire with her. In response, Juliette teases Assane, telling him that what she likes about him is that he is not a good person. Assane urges her not to keep waiting for him, maintaining that he loves Claire first and foremost.

At dinner, Claire protests that even though she had asked Assane to take her to a low-key place, he has brought her to one of the fanciest restaurants in town. Noticing her visible anxiety, Assane asks her what the matter is. Claire nervously tells Assane that she is pregnant; she is shocked and happy when she sees that Assane's reaction is entirely positive, to the point where he begins telling everybody in the restaurant about his impending paternity. However, when he notices Agatha sitting at another table, he hastily leaves with Claire in tow.

As they walk home, Claire tells Assane that she is due on December 11th. Assane is excited, as this is also the birthday of Maurice Leblanc, the creator of the Lupin character. He promises Claire that he will protect their child in any way that he can, and suggests several potential names, including Raoul.

Present day
In October 2020, Assane sees a news report stating that the Pellegrini necklace has been found and will be auctioned off at the Louvre on the 16th. Immediately, he applies for a job as janitor at the museum, which he manages to acquire after the woman in charge of hiring turns out to be from Senegal as well. Assane makes several other preparations, including having Benjamin re-create the necklace, and writing a false online encyclopedia page for a businessman named "Paul Sernine."

Assane meets with Claire (from whom he has separated) in a café in order to give her an alimony payment. He tells her that he has a new job; while she is happy for him, she says that based on her past experience with his "work," it is probably something secret that won't last. Assane asks her if he can see Raoul, and Claire tells him that he can, but reminds him that he has stood his son up three times now. Assane promises Claire that he will change; she responds that he should tell this to his son, and gives him back the alimony, advising him to get a present for Raoul instead. When Claire leaves the café, she finds that Assane has secretly slipped the money into her jacket, along with a paper flower.

Later, Assane goes to meet Kevin, Vincent and Rudy, three loan sharks whom he hopes will help him in stealing the necklace. Having failed to pay back a previous debt, Assane is dangled over the edge of the building by the men. He quickly tells them that he can give them more money than they can ever spend, and proceeds to explain his plans to stage a heist in the Louvre. The three agree to assist him.

On Friday, October 16th, Assane arrives at the auction in an expensive suit, presenting himself as the multimillionaire tech businessman Paul Sernine. Meanwhile, Vincent, Kevin and Rudy arrive dressed as janitors. Juliette Pellegrini introduces the auction, mentioning that the purchase of the necklace will help create the Juliette and Hubert Pellegrini foundation.



Bidding for the necklace begins at 17 million euros. Assane makes increasingly extravagant bids, competing with a wealthy German man for the prize. The auctioneer, curious about who Assane is, is shown Assane's webpage detailing Paul Sernine's life and work. Eventually, Assane bids 60 million euros, winning the necklace. Kevin and Vincent, standing nearby and now dressed in the uniforms of security guards, decide to betray Assane before he can double-cross them. While Assane is being presented the necklace by the auctioneer, Kevin and Vincent attack both of them, managing to tie them down and fleeing the scene with the treasure. They crash through the glass roof of the museum in a Ferrari while attempting to make a getaway with Rudy.

After the accident, the three men are arrested by the police. Romain Laugier, the captain in charge of the operation, deems Assane suspicious, noting that he has never heard of Sernine's supposed company, Nanobay, before. The auctioneer defends Assane's character, and after a brief search of his person, Laugier allows him to leave. Unbeknownst to everybody, Assane, suspecting that he would be betrayed, switched out the real necklace with the fake one made by Benjamin. When he leaves the museum, Assane discreetly takes the diamonds with him.

The next day, Assane arrives at Claire's apartment ahead of schedule, claiming that the previous night had been nothing special. After collecting Raoul, Assane takes him walking along the Seine, where he gives him the copy of the Arsène Lupin book that had been given to him by his father twenty five years earlier.



Benjamin informs Assane that the necklace had never been taken apart, and that the likelihood that it had been stolen from the Pellegrinis' safe is small. With this in mind, Assane arranges to meet Juliette in Luxembourg Gardens, dressed in the uniform of a Deli + Eat deliveryman. Against his expressed wishes, Juliette has brought the police along. When he sits down next to Juliette, she recognizes him immediately, but before she can say his name, Assane covers the small microphone that she is wearing on her jacket pocket.

Assane asks Juliette to tell him the truth about the necklace, noting Benjamin's revelation about its history. Juliette admits that the story that the Pellegrinis had released to the press (that the necklace had needed to be reconstructed when the jewels turned up individually all across the globe) was made up to increase publicity for the auction. However, she denies believing that anyone other than Babakar was behind the theft. Seeing that he is not going to get anything more out of her, Assane jumps on his bike and leaves the gardens, hotly pursued by the disguised police officers that Juliette had summoned. However, many other people wearing the same uniform, whom Assane had called for earlier, arrive on the scene, confusing the police and allowing Assane to escape.

Upon arriving home, Assane reads his father's confession letter, noticing for the first time several errors in spelling. Assane finds this strange, as his father had always been a stickler for proper spelling; when he examines the letter more closely, he realizes that the mistakes appear to be leaving a message about a certain Comet, one of Babakar's fellow inmates. To investigate further, Assane visits an inmate named Djibril Traore, claiming to be his cousin. He then tells Traore that he intends to switch places with him; Traore finds this laughable, but agrees to go along with it after Assane successfully steals his handcuffs. The prison guards fail to notice the switch.



Now in prison, Assane acquires Comet's cell number and goes to question him; upon arriving, he is told that Comet is in the infirmary and will likely not be coming back. After he leaves the cell, Assane is accosted by a group of men, who tell him that he now owes them 1,000 euros' worth of marijuana, and that he has three days to give it to them.

Assane visits the infirmary, telling the nurse that he has a stomach pain. The nurse decides that there is nothing seriously wrong with him, and sends him away. The following day, Assane insults the men to whom he had promised the drugs, and gets stabbed in retaliation. Back in the infirmary, Assane is allowed to stay the night this time. During the night, Assane wakes Comet, telling him about his father's message. Comet says that while he did not know Babakar well, he is aware that he had intended to give a book to Assane, and that the book is among Comet's belongings.



Assane returns to Comet's cell to find the book, which turns out to be another Arsène Lupin volume. While reading through it, Assane finds that several words and letters have been highlighted. Upon putting the message together, Assane finds out that his father was innocent, having been trapped by Anne Pellegrini. Afterwards, Assane is given permission to visit Comet at the infirmary. Realizing that Comet is dying, Assane asks him what he can do to repay him. Comet tells Assane to make his wife smile.

That night, the nurse finds Assane hanging from a noose in an apparent suicide. He is put into an ambulance and rushed to the hospital; however, having faked the incident using a basketball net harness and an overdose of sleeping pills, he wakes up in the ambulance. Assane waits until the vehicle is at a red light and escapes. Later, Assane goes to the hotel in which Anne Pellegrini is living, steals a maid's key, and walks into Anne's room.



Anne is shocked to see Assane, and is even more so when he accuses her of having framed his father. Anne admits that she urged Babakar sign the confession, but reveals that she only did it because she believed incorrectly (having been told by Dumont) that it would reduce his sentence. She also tells Assane that it was she who had paid for his boarding school education after his father's death. Afterwards, Assane sneaks into the house of Comet's wife and leaves her one of the diamonds from the necklace.

In order to keep track of Dumont's plans and engagements, Assane installs video cameras in his house. Dumont has now been promoted to the position of commissioner of the Paris police department. One day, Dumont goes to City Hall for a meeting, and encounters Assane, dressed as an IT specialist. Assane loudly mentions that there are issues surrounding porn on Dumont's work computer. Angry and embarrassed, Dumont allows Assane to lead him into a deserted corridor to discuss the supposed problem. Once there, Assane knocks him out, brings him to a room in the basement of City Hall, and ties him up. He takes the battery and SIM card out of Dumont's phone, putting both on a van headed for Pantin, a commune in the northeast of the Paris metropolitan area.

When Dumont wakes up, he is horrified to find that he has been abducted. Invisible to Dumont and using a voice scrambler, Assane asks him if he remembers Babakar, inquiring why he had framed him. Dumont argues that Babakar was indeed guilty, and speculates that the questions may have something to do with the incident at the Louvre. Assane tells Dumont that he knows that he has been involved in several episodes of bribery and corruption, stating that he will reveal this to Dumont's family.



Assane calls Hélène, Dumont's wife, and Dumont attempts to speak to her. However, Hélène is only able to hear Assane's voice threatening her husband, and becomes terrified. Assane hangs up the phone, and Dumont yells that he had only taken the money in order to provide for his children, drawing parallels between his love for them and Babakar's love for Assane.

Assane receives a phone call from Claire, who asks him if he has thought of something he can do for Raoul's birthday. Assane pauses briefly, and then mentions that he has a surprise planned. Claire is dismayed by his reaction, believing that Assane has forgotten about it as he did the previous year. She asks Assane to tell her what he is doing; Assane claims that he is filing paperwork. Claire doesn't believe him, but says that she isn't sure whether she even wants to know what he is actually up to. Imploring Assane to stay safe, she hangs up.

Returning to his interrogation with Dumont, Assane says that he will not hurt him physically, but threatens to release deepfakes of him claiming to be a pedophile or a supporter of ISIS. Dumont becomes very angry, demanding that Assane tell him what he actually wants. Assane loses his cool and yells that he wants to know what happened to his father, and Dumont instantly realizes that Assane is the person interrogating him. He asks Assane to forgive him for his behavior when he was younger, but re-iterates his belief in Babakar's guilt. Assane tells Dumont that he wants to change his mind about him, and leaves the room shortly before Laugier, Guedira and Belkacem arrive and untie their commissioner.

Later, Assane flies a drone into Hubert Pellegrini's house. Benjamin, meanwhile, monitors the drone's footage from his shop. While going through papers on Hubert's desk, Benjamin and Assane manage to find the name "Lucas Lacroix." The drone is eventually captured by Hubert's security guards.

Assane visits Dumont in a restaurant and re-introduces himself, asking him about his relationship with Hubert Pellegrini. Dumont is reluctant to give Assane information, until Assane makes vague threats against his wife, at which point Dumont gives him the name of Fabienne Beriot, a journalist who had almost exposed Hubert. Assane looks Fabienne up online, finding out that Hubert had sued her for defamation after the publication of her book Dirty Money: The Pellegrini System. The fallout from the lawsuit had prevented Fabienne from ever working again. Assane buys the book.



Several days later, Fabienne arrives at her home and is surprised to see Assane sitting inside. Assane claims that he is not a thief but a fan. Fabienne tells him that "Fabienne" does not exist after being blacklisted by Hubert and his army of lawyers. Assane tells Fabienne about what had happened to his father, and asks for her help; however, she refuses, believing Assane's quest to be a fool's errand.

However, some time afterward, Fabienne changes her mind, telling Assane that since Hubert has taken everything from her, she has nothing left to lose. She reveals that he was the first person that she had spoken to in days, and that she had appreciated his compliments regarding her journalism. Fabienne tells Assane that it makes sense that Babakar had been framed in 1995, as this was a year in which Hubert's business empire was in serious danger of collapsing. The insurance money collected from the necklace theft would have enabled him to regain control of his finances. Fabienne says that she may have evidence that will prove Hubert's unsavory and illegal dealings.



Assane and Fabienne drive to the headquarters of The Objector, the newspaper at which she had spent her entire career. Working together, Assane and Fabienne are able to retrieve a videotape from the paper's archives, with Assane feigning an unassuming, timid persona to get past the guards. Later, when they are watching the footage, Assane sees that in 1996, Hubert had sold weapons to Malaysian terrorists, who went on to blow up the French embassy, killing eleven people. Later, Assane arrives at Claire's house for a visitation with Raoul. Claire is annoyed by Assane's tardiness, and leaves in a hurry. Raoul and Assane play video games during the visit, and Raoul tells Assane that Claire has begun dating a doctor. Assane says that he is happy for her; Raoul tells him not to pretend that he doesn't care.

Under the name "Salvator813," Assane tweets a screenshot from the Pellegrini tape, threatening to leak all of the video. In response, Hubert gives a press conference, denying that the tape is real. Assane and Benjamin watch the conference together on TV. Fabienne, who is standing near Hubert, loudly asks him if he believes that he has the blood of the victims of the Malaysian attacks on his hands; he is furious and ends the conference with no comment.

Afterwards, Fabienne is congratulated by Assane. She tells him that she was followed home; Assane is concerned, but Fabienne assures him that she knows how to lose pursuers. Assane reveals that he has contacted the evening talk show The Other Edition, telling them that "Salvator" wants to make his TV debut. Although Fabienne complains that the show is not real journalism, she is swayed when he reveals that two million viewers would see the broadcast. In order to get ready for the show, Assane applies heavy makeup, as well as a false beard and a wig.



Assane's plan, however, is ruined when the tape is played, as it turns out that Hubert had managed to delete all of the incriminating footage. Assane is furious at this, and storms out of the broadcast, fighting Hubert's men as he escapes. Once out of the building, he removes his disguise and returns to Fabienne's home. However, when he arrives, he finds her hanging from a noose. Clutching Fabienne's dog, J'Accuse, Assane breaks down in tears.

In the ensuing days, the news of Fabienne's death is revealed in the French newspapers. Assane, who has brought J'Accuse home with him, claims to Benjamin that it was his fault that Fabienne had died, and that he should not have involved her. Benjamin, becoming concerned that Assane is over-extending himself, tells him that he does not want to find him dead as well. He reminds Assane of his family, and notes that it is Raoul's birthday. Assane says that he is not in the mood for celebration, but Benjamin convinces him that if he maintains this attitude, Hubert will have beaten him.

On the way to Claire's house, Assane finds himself pursued by Hubert's henchman Leonard, who had killed Fabienne earlier. Assane manages to evade Leonard by running up several levels of a parking garage, and hopping across the roofs of Paris. When he arrives at his destination, he wishes Raoul a happy birthday. Assane gives Raoul a top hat and a cape; Claire disapproves of the present, and Raoul is not sure if he likes it, but Assane assures him that he will love it. Claire bids them farewell, revealing that she has plans. Assane sarcastically asks if she has a doctor's appointment; Claire is shocked to find out that he knows about her new relationship. She eventually relents and agrees to go with Assane and Raoul on their day out.

Once on the train, Assane reveals that they will be going to Étretat, where there is an Arsène Lupin festival being held in honor of Maurice Leblanc. Claire attempts to recite several lines from the Lupin book The Hollow Needle, telling Raoul that Assane had asked her to read it when they began their relationship. Later, Claire takes a photograph with Assane and Raoul; when he examines it, Assane is shocked to see that Leonard is in the background, having managed to follow the family onto the train. He stands up and begins singing "Happy Birthday" loudly, looking at Leonard in a pointed manner. After the song finishes, Assane excuses himself and leaves Claire and Raoul, moving towards the back of the train. Leonard gets up and follows him.



When he reaches the end of the train, Leonard is surprised by Assane, who is hiding in a storage closet. The two fight one another briefly, and Assane manages to gain the upper hand, locking Leonard in the closet and dashing back to his seat. When he returns, Raoul and Claire notice that he has exerted himself. Assane claims that he got into an altercation with another passenger, who had claimed that The Mysterious Traveller was the best Lupin story. Claire is startled to hear that Assane has been fighting, and is skeptical of the details of his story, but ultimately does not press him for more information.

However, as the train nears the station at Le Havre, Leonard manages to escape and returns, discreetly pointing a gun at Assane and sitting next to Claire and Raoul. Leonard asks Raoul whether they are going to the Lupin festival; Raoul replies that they are. Claire inquires if Assane knows Leonard. Assane replies that he doesn't, but Leonard says that he does. Assane texts Laugier, claiming that "Paul Sernine" is on the train wearing a beige coat (which Leonard is actually wearing).

When the train stops, Assane motions for Claire to get off with Raoul. Although concerned about the situation, she obliges. Leonard tells Assane that they will disembark quietly, pointing his gun at him. As they step onto the platform, they are greeted by a number of local police officers, who proceed to arrest Leonard, into whose pocket Assane has slipped one of the diamonds in the necklace.

Assane catches up with his family, and they continue to Étretat. While strolling through the promenade, Raoul wears the cape and hat that Assane has gotten for him, stating that it would look stupid anywhere else, but is cool in a place where everybody is dressed similarly. Claire asks what happened to Lupin in the original stories; Raoul tells her that nobody knows, since he was never caught. Claire says that this makes the books unrealistic. Raoul wanders ahead, telling his parents that he is going to walk on the beach and explore the nearby cliffs. Claire warns him not to go too far.

Assane and Claire continue walking through the town, and Claire asks Assane who the man on the train was. When Assane fails to respond, Claire becomes upset, telling him that she is tired of pleading with him for information. Assane responds that when he is finished, he will be able to reveal everything, but Claire says that she needs more from their relationship. Assane asks her to give him another chance.



Suddenly Claire notices that she cannot see Raoul anywhere. Worried for his safety, she searches for him on the beach, while Assane does the same on the promenade. Both Assane and Claire struggle with the fact that many of the tourists are, like Raoul, dressed in Lupin costumes. Unbeknownst to them, Leonard has been released by the police, arrived in Étretat, and kidnapped their son. As Assane begins to realize that Raoul may be in serious danger, Guedira appears behind him and calls out, "Lupin?"

Personality
Assane is confident and daring. He does not operate behind the scenes; rather, he carries out all of his crimes on his own, only using the help of others (such as Benjamin and Fabienne) when he feels that he absolutely has to. Highly observant, Assane is able to successfully use the physical environment to his advantage when he finds himself in tight spots. He is also skilled in sleight-of-hand, as seen when he manages to switch out the Pelleginis’ necklace with a fake while being attacked by the loan sharks, and when he discreetly removes the handcuffs of Djibril Traore during his prison visitation.

As a teenager, Assane tended to be quiet and stoic. He is more outgoing in adulthood, and successfully blends in with his social environment, whether it is a prison or an auction attended by Europe’s wealthiest. Assane also shows a natural ability to improvise even under stress when his plans are failing. Due to his fixation on the Arsène Lupin stories, his crimes tend to have a strong element of showmanship. The police officers on his trail are frequently frustrated by their sense that Assane seems to be making fun of them.



Assane is adept at taking on personas and disguising himself. With the exception of the “Salvator” character, the technical aspects of these disguises tend to be modest; instead, Assane focuses on changing his posture and affect in order to mimic a different personality. He frequently uses Arsène Lupin-inspired chivalry to ingratiate himself with others, identifying fully with the label of “gentleman” embodied by Lupin. Assane occasionally uses accusations of racism to bait his victims into opening up to him, aware that many of them are wealthy but socially aware.

Assane is single-minded in achieving his goals, which often leads to his undermining his relationships with his family. Although he sees his intentions as noble, he believes that the ends justify the means, and is thus willing to resort to morally dubious methods such as kidnapping and creating deepfakes. Generally cool-headed, Assane does however care deeply about his loved ones, and is more prone to making careless errors when he senses that they are under threat.

Family and loved ones
Assane and Babakar had a strong father-son bond. Having immigrated to Paris from Senegal in order to provide a better life for Assane, Babakar believed in his son’s intelligence and wished to see him do well as a French citizen. Assane was crushed by his father’s imprisonment and subsequent death, and was furious at the Pellegrini family for their treatment of him, although he initially believed in Babakar’s guilt regarding the necklace theft. Later, when Benjamin’s evidence proved that Babakar was not the thief, Assane became focused on clearing his name.

Claire and Assane met during the latter’s stay in the orphanage. Assane managed to charm Claire with his quick wit; when they began to become romantically involved, she read his prized Arsène Lupin books. By 2006, their relationship was on rocky territory, with Claire visiting a therapist in order to deal with her distress at Assane’s failures as a partner and his refusal to inform her about his actions when away from her. Claire was scared to tell Assane about her pregnancy with Raoul, and was enormously relieved and happy when his reaction was overhwhelmingly positive.



Currently, Claire and Assane are separated, although Claire desires that Assane continue to be present in the lives of her and Raoul, who is now a teenager and is living with his mother full time. Assane continues to hide his less than legal dealings from Claire, who still frequently begs him to come clean (to no avail). Claire does not tell Assane about her recent attempts to find a new boyfriend. When he finds out from Raoul, Assane claims to be happy for her but appears slightly jealous, making sarcastic and mean-spirited comments about the state of her romantic life.

Assane enjoys an easygoing relationship with Raoul, whom he sees on visitation days (although he frequently arrives late and occasionally misses the visits altogether, to Claire’s distress). Assane’s visits often consist of him taking Raoul out into Paris, sometimes visiting Benjamin’s shop. Other times, they play video games with each other, even though Assane laments Raoul’s dependence on them. After Assane gives Raoul his old Arsène Lupin book, the two bond over their shared interest in it. It is Raoul who informs Assane of Claire’s relationship with Marc, the doctor.

Pellegrini family
Assane met Juliette while his father was working for the Pellegrinis. During their first encounter, Juliette was smoking a cigarette next to the Pellegrinis’ pool; she promised to kiss Assane if he could swim to her. Assane and Juliette later carried out an extended affair, which Assane broke off in 2006 in order to commit to his relationship with Claire. In the present day, Juliette covers for Assane after learning that he was behind the necklace theft, but ultimately sides with her father after he tells her that Assane is attempting to destroy the family and its fortune.

Although Assane seems to have had few personal interactions with Hubert Pellegrini, he regards the ageing businessman as his greatest enemy, due to his being primarily responsible for the plot to frame Babakar for the theft of the necklace. Assane desires to expose Hubert’s wrongdoings and ruin him; however, he tends to underestimate Hubert’s ruthlessness and his considerable ability to anticipate Assane’s actions. As a result, Assane begins to encounter failure when he matches wits with Hubert himself, something he had not experienced when he was simply evading the police officers.

Unlike Hubert, Anne treated Assane and Babakar with more kindness. Assane was angry with Anne after she failed to prevent his father’s arrest; unbeknownst to him, she paid for his attendance at the College d’Andrésy.

Other
Assane initially met Benjamin during his stay at the College d’Andrésy, when Benjamin threatened to report a group of boys who were bullying him. He is the only person who is aware of all of Assane’s criminal activity, and Assane sometimes gives Benjamin a cut of his stolen items to sell in his antique shop. Assane also uses Benjamin’s experience as a jeweller in order to prove that the Pellegrini necklace had not been stolen by his father.

Assane encountered Dumont for the first time in 1995, when Dumont brought him to child services in order to place him in an orphanage after his father’s death. In the present day, Assane kidnaps Dumont in order to interrogate him about his role in Babakar’s sentencing. In exchange for letting him go, Dumont promises Assane that he will forgive him for the abduction.



Although Assane’s friendship with Fabienne Beriot was brief, the two bonded over their shared sense of the injustices committed by Hubert Pellegrini. Although Fabienne was initially reluctant to become involved in Assane’s schemes, she eventually relented, claiming that she had nothing left to lose. She helped Assane procure the tape of Hubert selling arms to Malaysian terrorists, and publically accused Hubert of having been involved in their subsequent bombing of the French embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Fabienne credited Assane with bringing her out of her reclusive, depressed state. Assane was deeply saddened by her death at Leonard’s hands.

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
"Arsène Lupin is more than a book. It’s my heritage. My method. My path. I am Lupin."

- Assane on his inspiration

"You saw me...but you didn’t look at me."

- Assane to Vincent, Kevin and Rudy

"I always say that people don’t change. But I want to change my mind about you."

- Assane to Dumont during his interrogation

"I need to see this through. Then I’ll tell you everything. I’ll stop all my crap. I know I’ve told you this before--a hundred times--so you have no reason to believe that this time it’s true. But this time it’s true."

- Assane to Claire in Étretat

"His main tool is his head; he has difficulties working with his feelings--his heart and his belly."

- Omar Sy on Assane

"Assane is defined by a sense of injustice --the fact of being ignored, of being invisible--which has become his trauma. He uses that. As he changes costumes and trades, he blends in with the crowd."

- Omar Sy on Assane

"...[Assane] is well-intended and he knows the right things to do, but the love he has for his family leads him into making the odd error or two, which makes him vulnerable, which creates the tension and the drama."

- George Kay on Assane

Trivia

 * Like Omar Sy, Assane is of Senegalese extraction.
 * Assane's surname, "Diop," comes from the Wolof language native to west Africa.
 * Unlike most of the other actors playing the younger versions of the characters, Mamadou Haidara (young Assane) is actually a teenager.
 * Initially, Omar Sy was intended to play the "real" Arsène Lupin. After coming on board as showrunner, George Kay decided to build the show around a separate character (Assane) who was inspired by the Lupin stories.
 * Like the canonical Arsène Lupin, Assane never kills his enemies.
 * Showrunner George Kay characterizes Assane's personality as being centered on the idea of "good arrogance."
 * A spike of interest in Nike Air Jordans followed the release of Part 1 in which Assane was regularly seen wearing them.
 * Among Assane's extensive collection of Arsène Lupin memorabilia are a number of casts of his own face.
 * Omar Sy is one of four actors to have appeared in every episode of the series so far. The other three are Ludivine Sagnier, Soufiane Guerrab and Hervé Pierre.