Julien Doré is back in season 2 of Panda, on TF1. SYLVAIN GOLEDZINOWSKI (SAYEM)/SUPERPROD/TF1
Julien Doré will be back in season 2 of Panda, starting January 9 at 9:10 p.m. on TF1 and is then expected on the stage of the Arena in Montpellier on March 15, 2025 and December 6, 2025. Interview.
How did you experience this return in Panda's colorful shirt for this second season ?
It's a return that feels good to these Camargue lands, with the sea, the bulls, the horses and all these fabulous settings of my region. It was also a lot of pleasure to meet again the actors with whom I had the chance to do season 1. It was a set of very joyful things.
Panda celebrates indeed this midday that saw you born. How did this setting come about? ?
When it was offered to me, I asked for it to be located in the Camargue. It was one of the conditions for me to participate in the project.
I knew it was going to be magnificent on screen. These Camargue settings are not present enough in this kind of series. I really wanted these lands and these places of this region that I love so much, which saw me grow up.
It was important to me. And like for my clips, it also allows a lot of people from the region to work on the project.
I especially thought it was consistent with the universe they wanted to create. I wanted this character, as he was described to me, to find his bearings in my region.
What are the new challenges that await this offbeat investigator ?
There are many, but they are mostly personal challenges that will radically change his life. This is the particularity of this season 2, at the end of each episode, a revelation will keep us in suspense until the end of episode 6… I was very happy with this writing. There are many many twists and turns in the life of this character and his comrades…
What can you tell us about the evolution of the relationships between the characters without spoiling anything ?
It's a bit tricky… Season 1 ends with a kiss between Lola and Panda, immediately cooled by the fact that she's getting married. Season 2 starts from that, but things don't always go as we imagine.
This series has become TF1's biggest success after HPI, what are its driving forces ?
I think it's this tenderness, this sunny, fun and joyful side, there's a real contrast with the times we live in. We live in a really violent world. There is a lot of empathy between the characters in this series, that's what makes it strong.
You find yourself in these values, carried by your character ? What binds you ?
A bit of everything. Honestly, I'm taking the TGV back home later, apart from the flowery shirts that I don't wear much at home, otherwise that's how I am, with maybe a bit more caricature in the series, but it's not far off.
I observe what surrounds me with respect, a bit calm, not rushed for time. I find myself in these values, tenderness, kindness and above all listening. We are in an era where we don't even listen to the person who speaks to us anymore, we just want to shout our opinion on things. My mother and grandmother taught me to listen to others, before I form an opinion about what they think or who they are.
Panda carries this, a form of benevolence and empathy towards human beings, animals, nature, it is a way of being on a daily basis that is rather generous and less closed in on itself than this era dictates us to be.
Is this environmental sensitivity a common thread in your career? ?
In any case, I realize it every day with humility in the Cévennes when I am facing these forests of white oaks, holm oaks, facing this magnificent starry sky, what surrounds us is extremely beautiful, extremely poetic and extremely strong. I realize that I am really not much.
Unfortunately we no longer take the time to observe the beautiful things that surround us today and that is probably also what makes us forget that they have immense value.
Did you have any references in mind when you took on this character ?
Not really, I mainly wanted to make him a bit of an anti-hero, not pretentious, so that he would be touching and funny in spite of himself, so that we could make fun of him but not in a mean way. Playing a tough cop didn't really interest me. I really wanted this character to become a bit laughable because he's so childish. I've always been more amused by heroes who fell than by those who succeeded.
What is your personal relationship with series ?
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000I'm more of a customer, depending on the time I have. And there I admit that for several months, I've been in music, writing, directing my show. In the evening, in the moments when I have a little more time, I'm with my family, my son. But I saw the series on the Loft (Cult) and The Bear, exceptional!
Will there be a season 3 of Panda ?
It's not in the pipeline. There, what awaits me is my tour, already 60 Arena and Zénith planned probably until the beginning of 2026, including two in Montpellier (at the Arena, on March 15 and December 6, 2025).
That's all I have in mind, to find the audience on stage again and offer them a crazy show for two hours, so that they have fun, I can't wait!
What will this new show be like ?
It's going to be as crazy as the previous one, with new ingredients, completely crazy effects. I've been working on the staging for over a year. Musically, it's going to be a mix between my songs (Le Lac, Coco Câline, Paris Seychelles, etc.) and a few covers.
Your latest album of covers breaks down barriers and rehabilitates his way of titles sometimes snubbed. It is one of the meanings of your approach ?
Yes, I've always had a big problem with people telling me what I should like or what I should hate. It's always horrified me. So, in this album, I had fun covering songs that had made me feel good, that had made me want to make music, that had sometimes just accompanied me in moments of my life. I just needed that.
And I especially wanted to respect them all in the same way, to cover them with the same love and to put a little fun, humor in my videos and in the way I talk about them. I think that's what made this album successful, which went platinum in a month, it's completely crazy.
It's also a way to remind myself that I've been making music for 17 years and I was born in La Nouvelle Star, a TV show where I sang other people's songs.
The title of the album, “Imposteur”, is a nod to a review I received at the time of the show Nouvelle Star on M6 ?
Indeed, the starting point was articles at the time of “La Nouvelle Star” that considered me, with a bit of humor, as possibly being an impostor. It was funny. It's a mixture of that and, at the same time, it's a way of approaching the question of legitimacy.
We live in a time where, as citizens, we are made to feel very guilty, where the question of legitimacy arises, of knowing also if we have the right to be happy. Artists also ask themselves the question of their legitimacy, fortunately. That's also why I question myself a lot, why I work so much.
And you always surprise: how did this unexpected duet with Sharon Stone on “Paroles, Paroles” by Dalida come about ?
I was in the studio and I had the idea to start working on this song, that's when I sent her a message on Instagram. I couldn't imagine for a single second that she would read it and answer me. But that's what happened.
Everything was done live on Instagram between her and me until we organized this moment and we met and recorded the song. I spent an incredible day in the studio with her. But the starting point was just as incredible…
Julien Doré is expected in concert at the Arena Sud de France in Montpellier, on March 15, 2025, then on December 6, 2025, at 8 p.m.
Ophélia Kolb, the other star of the series: “He's a very attentive actor”
Popularized by the small screen ("Ten Percent"), "Molierized" ("The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams). Seen about fifteen times in the cinema (Gainsbourg, Amanda, Docteur ?, Le Lion), or even on Netflix ("Tapie"), Ophélia Kolb, 42, is the other star of "Panda", where she plays Lola, a tempestuous policewoman, the opposite of the very zen Victor Pandaloni (Julien Doré). Their duo creates sparks. "He is a very attentive actor, who makes a lot of suggestions and plays with everything that happens around him, the slightest little movement, blinking of eyelashes, she confided to us, on the set in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. When I did the tests, there was something immediate and it's even stronger in season 2, we understand each other very easily, we even remove lines because everything is in the look." Her character, Lola, will evolve. "She was more nervous in season 1, she will perhaps be closer to what I can be in life, she announces. But "Panda" will distill "the same sweet and funny madness".