Two French miniseries adapting Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin stories were made between 1989 and 1996, starring François Dunoyer as the titular Gentleman Thief. Vladimir Cosma composed the soundtracks. They were as follow:
- Le Retour d'Arsène Lupin (The Return of Arsène Lupin, 1989-1990)
- Les Nouveaux Exploits d'Arsène Lupin (The New Exploits of Arsène Lupin, 1995-1996)
The first miniseries features stories both lifted from Leblanc's writings and original, while the second has only original stories. They have no ties to the previous French Arsène Lupin series from 1971 that starred Georges Descrières, although they were heavily influenced by it due to sharing the same writer, Jacques Nahum.
This series provides examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptation Expansion: The series features both Leblanc stories and original stories, particularly the second season, which has nothing but original stories.
- Adaptational Badass: These series give a World War I Ace Pilot background to Lupin that he lacks in the novels.
- Con Men Hate Guns: As in the Leblanc stories, Lupin makes as little use of guns as possible.
- Continuity Reboot: The series has no ties to the previous French 1971 Arsène Lupin series starring Georges Descrières, despite "Return" being part of the title.
- Expository Theme Tune: The theme tune for the second miniseries is short, but enough to mention the hero's first name and his Gentleman Thief activity.
- Gentleman Thief: Guess who? Lupin likes to infiltrate the high society for his thefts, he's a man of taste and The Charmer, and he hates firearms.
- Hero Stole My Bike: In "The Emperor's Tobacco Box", when he's chased by cops at the beginning after stealing a diamond necklace, Lupin causes two cops on bicycles to fall on the ground and steals one of the bicycles to escape faster.
- Iconic Outfit: Lupin's black top hat, black cape and High-Class Glass, of course. The opening credits also feature it.
- Lovable Rogue: Lupin, as ever. He's likeable and charming and a thief, and oftentimes confronts people who commit much worse crimes.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: In "The Emperor's Tobacco Box", when Colonel Tarnowski is cleaning a wheellock gun and leaves the room to get a phone call, someone sneaks into the room and puts a bullet in the gun. When Tarnowski comes back to clean the gun, he points it towards his own face and pulls the trigger...
- Master of Disguise: Lupin can disguise himself and act quite convincingly as other people, including through Wig, Dress, Accent.
- Pocket Protector: The tobacco box at the center of the plot of "The Emperor's Tobacco Box" once stopped a German bullet from hitting its owner, Colonel Tarnowski (a nobleman friend of Lupin), during World War I.
- Replaced the Theme Tune: From this one
for the first miniseries to this one for the second, both by Vladimir Cosma. - Revival: Les Nouveaux Exploits d'Arsène Lupin was made five years after the first miniseries.
