Paris Manga by TGS 2026 : Les Mystères de l’amour

Hélène Rollès and Patrick Puydebat brought one of French television’s longest-running screen partnerships into the spotlight at the 40th Paris Manga by TGS. Held on October 3–4, 2026, at Paris Nord Villepinte, the convention included a Les Mystères de l’amour panel featuring the two performers. The published programme placed their session on the conference stage on Sunday morning, connecting the event’s celebration of popular culture with a television story that began more than three decades earlier.

The timing gave the encounter a particular relevance. Following the end of the series’ TMC run in December 2025, producer Jean-Luc Azoulay announced in September 2026 that new episodes would arrive exclusively on JLA Play. The convention therefore coincided with a transition for the franchise: its best-known faces represented both a familiar television history and a newly announced route back to audiences. That announcement preceded Paris Manga; it was not news first unveiled at the panel.

From Hélène et les Garçons to an enduring television saga

Launched on TF1 in 1992, Hélène et les Garçons established Hélène Rollès as Hélène Girard and Patrick Puydebat as Nicolas Vernier. Its students, friendships, romantic misunderstandings and rehearsal garage created a recognisable setting that could support successive chapters. Le Miracle de l’amour and Les Vacances de l’amour extended that world before Les Mystères de l’amour brought the characters into another stage of adulthood. The continuity lies as much in the performers as in the changing titles.

Les Mystères de l’amour began broadcasting on TMC on February 12, 2011. Contemporary launch coverage described a return for a substantial part of the original ensemble, with 45-minute episodes taking the characters beyond their early sitcom surroundings. Familiar actors could keep developing familiar roles, preserving the connection with viewers of the earlier programmes.

The production’s own description emphasises romance, betrayal, revenge, laughter and tears. The group remains the point of reference: settings change, while the audience’s knowledge of these friendships gives each complication a history. At a convention celebrating attachment to fictional worlds, that continuity makes the series a natural subject for a cast encounter.

Hélène Rollès and a career beyond the sitcom

Long before the television role that made her widely recognisable, Hélène Rollès appeared in the 1979 film Le Mouton noir, directed by Jean-Pierre Moscardo, alongside Jacques Dutronc and Brigitte Fossey. A particularly revealing detail comes from Le Monde’s account of her beginnings: her grandmother sent her a casting advertisement clipped from Paris Match. That family gesture helped open the door to a screen career years before the café and garage of Hélène et les Garçons.

Another unexpected step came at AB Productions, where she worked in the mail department before her recording career developed. Her early single Dans ses grands yeux verts and recordings connected with the animated series Candy belong to that period. This background gives her career an interesting connection to the wider interests of Paris Manga audiences: television comedy, French pop music and the world of animation were already intersecting in her work before her best-known sitcom arrived.

Her musical audience also extends well beyond France. Je m’appelle Hélène, released in 1993, became an enduring favourite in China, and her 2015 tour there included fourteen dates. Contemporary AFP reporting described listeners drawn both to the melodies and to lyrics accessible to people learning French. That international following broadens the perspective on Hélène Rollès: a performer associated with French television nostalgia at home has also become a lasting musical reference for audiences abroad.

Patrick Puydebat and the experience of sudden fame

For Patrick Puydebat, the longevity of Nicolas Vernier contrasts with the uncertainty of his earliest days in the profession. During a March 2021 appearance on C à vous, reported by Télé 7 Jours, he recalled entering the original series with very little experience after only a few months at the Cours Florent. He also joked about failing to learn his lines. The anecdote belongs to that earlier interview, offering documented background rather than an account of what he said at Paris Manga.

In the same interview, Patrick Puydebat acknowledged missed opportunities and explained that his desire to pursue acting seriously had developed over time. He was promoting Carrément Craignos alongside Jean-Pascal Zadi, illustrating a career outside his best-known role. His comments add nuance to a familiar success story: recognition arrived quickly, while professional ambition took longer to develop.

JLA Play and the next chapter of Les Mystères de l’amour

On September 11, 2026, Jean-Luc Azoulay announced the series’ return through JLA Play after fourteen years on TMC. Le Parisien described a subscription application designed for smartphones, with a catalogue including vertical-format series. Crucially, its report specified that the new Les Mystères de l’amour episodes would retain a conventional horizontal format. The distribution platform was changing, but that did not mean the established series was itself becoming a vertical microdrama.

The project’s title also required clarification. Télé 7 Jours reported that Amis pour toujours, previously circulated as a possible title, was the name of the opening episode, while Les Mystères de l’amour remained the series title. Its September report named Hélène Rollès, Patrick Puydebat, Elsa Esnoult, Laure Guibert, Sébastien Roch and Laly Meignan among the returning actors, and described a planned weekly release. Those details concern the continuation’s cast, not the guest list of the Paris Manga panel.

The Villepinte encounter thus coincided with a practical question for the franchise: how will an audience accustomed to a television appointment carry that habit into an application? Paris Manga offered a meeting place with its familiar stars just as another chapter became a concrete prospect.

You can discover our photos in our Flickr page

Event recap

Les Mystères de l’amour panel
Where : Conference stage, Paris Nord Villepinte Exhibition Centre, Villepinte, France.
When : Sunday, October 4, 2026, scheduled from 10:00 to 10:45 a.m. CEST.
What : A conference featuring Hélène Rollès and Patrick Puydebat.

Photos : Boris Colletier / Mulderville