Python, equivalent of set command

[loial]

In unix shell script I can do the following to get the status and
values returned by a unix command

OUTPUT=`some unix command`
STATUS=$?
if [ $STATUS -ne 0 ]
then
  exit 1
else
  set $OUTPUT
  VAL1=$1
  VAL2=$2
  VAL3=$3
fi

How can I achieve the same in python?

I know how to run it via the os.system command and return the status,
but how do I return the values too?