The most dangerous enemy Assane Diop has ever faced might be himself — or at least, someone pretending to be him. Lupin season 4 arrived on Netflix on Oct. 23 after a three-year hiatus, and the French mystery series wastes no time throwing its hero into his most personal trap yet: a copycat committing museum heists in Lupin’s name while Assane sits behind bars.
The season picks up four years after the events of the previous chapter. Omar Sy returns as Assane, the gentleman thief inspired by Maurice Leblanc’s Arsène Lupin — and this time, Sy also serves as co-showrunner alongside director Louis Leterrier, taking more creative control of the series than ever before.
The Trap Is Set
When the new season opens, Assane is serving time in a high-security prison, determined to lay low. Then “Lupin” signs an announcement that multiple museums are to be hit with simultaneous heists — and in spite of heightened security, the thefts go off as planned. The official logline lays out the nightmare: “Assane proclaims his innocence, but everything points to his guilt. A camera even shows him in one of the museums during a robbery in which Captain Belkacem is seriously injured. To prove his innocence and unmask the copycat, Assane must escape and don the Lupin costume once more!”
(Harald Krichel / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0))The Familiar Faces Return
Joining Sy for the fourth installment are the show’s beloved returning players: Ludivine Sagnier as Claire Laurent, Antoine Gouy as Benjamin Férel, Soufiane Guerrab as Youssef Guédira, and Shirine Boutella as Sofia Belkacem. Belkacem’s fate is tied directly to the copycat’s crimes — she is seriously injured during one of the museum robberies, raising the stakes of every heist that follows.
The newcomers, meanwhile, reshape the world around them. Théo Christine takes over as an older Raoul Diop, Assane and Claire’s son, replacing Etan Simon after the four-year time jump — a recasting that puts the father-son bond at the emotional center of the season. Laïka Blanc-Francard joins in an undisclosed role after credits including Reign Supreme, Stalk and The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. Brice Derouéné plays the younger Benjamin Férel, Assane’s childhood best friend, taking over from Adrian Valli de Villebonne.
(Wilfredor / Wikimedia Commons (CC0))Paris After Dark
As always, the series’ true co-star is Paris itself — a city of museums, grand facades, and shadows made for disappearing into. Season 4 leans into that atmosphere harder than ever, with the copycat’s simultaneous museum heists turning the city’s great institutions into crime scenes. It is a clever escalation: Assane has always hidden in plain sight, but now someone else is hiding behind his legend, and the gentleman thief must steal back his own name to prove his innocence.
(Fabien Barrau / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0))All eight episodes of Lupin season 4 dropped at once on Netflix, giving fans the full copycat mystery to unravel at their own pace. The gentleman thief is out of prison, on the run, and hunting the one criminal clever enough to frame him — and if the premiere is any indication, this is the boldest chapter yet.
The Copycat as a Mirror
There is a delicious irony at the heart of this season’s premise. Assane Diop has spent three seasons impersonating other people — the gentleman thief’s entire method is becoming someone he is not. Now the tables have turned: someone is impersonating him, and the disguise is working. The copycat’s simultaneous museum heists are the kind of audacious, theatrical crimes Assane himself would plan, which is precisely why no one believes his denials.
It is also the perfect engine for a show about identity. To clear his name, Assane must escape the one place he chose to be — a prison he entered voluntarily — and become Lupin again, the very persona the copycat is weaponizing against him. The gentleman thief’s greatest trick may turn out to be stealing himself back.