There are countless series set in Paris, but Lupin somehow manages to make the city feel new again.
This isn’t the Paris of tiny cafés and accordion music. Nor is it the polished postcard version that appears in every travel brochure. This is a city of museums, grand boulevards, hidden passages, wealthy neighbourhoods and overlooked corners where history constantly brushes against the present.
Inspired by the gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, Assane Diop turns Paris into his playground. Every landmark becomes part of the story. The Louvre is no longer just a museum; it’s the opening move of an elaborate game. The metro stations, rooftops and elegant streets become places where intelligence matters more than violence.
What I enjoyed most was how confidently the series embraces Paris without becoming a tourism advert. The city has style, but it also has inequality, crowded suburbs and lives that rarely appear on postcards. That contrast gives Lupin much of its energy.
Omar Sy carries the series with remarkable ease. Charming without trying too hard, funny without becoming comedic, he makes every disguise and every impossible plan feel believable.
For a blog called Mapped in Drama, Lupin is exactly the kind of series that reminds us why locations matter. Paris isn’t simply where the story happens. It is one of the main characters.
WATCH THE TRAILER BELOW
The globally acclaimed French heist-thriller series Lupin, starring Omar Sy as the charismatic master thief Assane Diop, is available to stream exclusively on Netflix UK.