"Lupin" - Season 4, Netflix - 2026

OK, so this review is going to be unusual since it's the first time I'm reviewing a series from Netflix and in particular "Lupin" Season 4 which I have just finished watching over a few nights. I've been a fan of several Netflix series, notably "Call My Agent" (Fr: "Dix Pour Cent") which recently rounded off a consistently watchable several seasons with an excellent feature film version, "Call My Agent - The Movie", and also "Midnight Diner" set in a small Tokyo restaurant, now also into a new season and more recently "The Gentleman" and follow-up "The Gentlemen" and a promised up-coming new season of the same. What all these have in common is a gap of a few years after the initial runs have ended and the challenge is to keep a ball in the air and maintain the tone that makes them successful which might seem difficult as writers, show-runners, directors and cast move on in the interim with the risk that a returning series misses the mark as a result, besides a good enough reason for Netflix to recommission a new series. I really enjoyed the first 3 seasons of "Lupin" which has launched Senegalese actor Omar Sy, playing the titular role, already a huge star in France, onto the international stage as a result of a cleverly crafted and gripping series inspired by the popular French novels of "Arsene Lupin" by Maurce Leblanc that in turn has inspired a series of popular Japanese Anime besides film adaptations in France and also, interestingly, a recent Japanese spin-off live-action series, "The Daughter of Lupin", which is pertinent in the case of the new season. However, fans of the initial series that includes myself will be in for a surprise, or shock, at how Season 4 departs quite markedly from the more grounded and darker tone of the first 3 series, which to be fair was also laced with some fantastical elements involving "Lupin's" use of technology to facilitiate his activities but still somehow never quite strained credibility - his thefts suggest that the trinkets he steals are less important to him than his goal of avenging the injustice that led to the death of his father. Season 3 ended on a cliffhanger that left unanswered questions and was surely intended to set-up a Season 4 but the gap between that production and the new, long-awaited season has been 4 years and since then, while he has stated that he was very involved in the plotting of the overall story arc across the three seasons, as an actor, in Season 4 he has now taken the reins as show-runner with more say in the plotting in what has become a global hit for good reason. Season 4 is going to divide and even anger existing fans - frankly speaking, it came very close to losing me mainly due to the introduction of a new character, "Adèle Kapoor" played by Laïka Blanc-Francard and "Raoul", the son of Assane Diop/Lupin, played by Etan Simon, as an older incarnation of the young "Raoul" who was put through the mill in the first 3 seasons following a traumatic kidnapping instigated by Diop's nemesis, Pellegrini. Both these younger characters are depicted as either stroppy ("Raoul") and smart-alec (Adèle), the latter being the daughter that "Assane Diop" never knew he had and who turns out to be more than a match when she assumes the role of a rival "Lupin" in the first 2 episodes which sets up a spectacular opening to Season 4 - both have their personal reasons for their behaviour that becomes clearer later on but at the same time they run close to being off-putting. Season 4 plays hard and fast with everything that went before, often straining credibility to the limit and pushing "Lupin" into sci-fi territory that would be more at home in a Marvel film or "Mission Impossible" franchise. "Generation Alpha" "Adèle" uses all the technology now available, such as AI, and more, to pull off a series of stunts that threaten to overtake her father's previous escapades, though he does manage to escape prison by using hologram technology at the start of Season 4. As before, a similar format is applied in Season 4 of a sequence of incredible stunts playing out to be followed by an explanation that is meant to leave you gob-smacked, which worked really well in the first 3 seasons. However, in Season 4, while this structure is maintained, the explanations become increasingly outrageous and hard to swallow which undermines the credibility in what is already a fantastical premise. I decided to stick with Season 4 until the concluding episode to give it a chance which also ends with a cliffhanger of sorts as per Season 3 and a big reveal that you kind of anticipate quite early on but that also thankfully pulls everything that went before back into the very grounded dynamic of the first 3 seasons as Assane Diop/Lupin has to face the consequences of his past and it's effect on his family. Omar Sy has stated in interviews regarding Season 4 that he wanted to change direction somewhat and that is certainly the case, responding to the popularity of the series and to give something spectacular to fans worldwide while acknowledging that "Lupin" is now at a disadvantage since he is famous and his true identity has been exposed. His earlier "superpower" of being able to disappear into the shadows in some disguise won't work but at the same time as a POC, in public, he can still move around unnoticed or ignored.

This is a weakness of the plot in Season 4 since there is a feeling that even when heavily disguised, people would still know he is a wanted criminal, Assane Diop, mainly because Omar Sy uses the opportunity perform various personas in a more exaggerated, almost cartoon-like fashion compared to in the first 3 seasons.

Some fans have noted plot holes but if you follow all the episodes it has pretty watertight plotting - however, when "Sofia Belkasem", the police officer side-kick of "Lupin" expert and fellow police officer "Youssef Guedira" is pushed off a museum balcony by a mysterious assailant and falls onto a floor several storeys below, she miraculously escapes with little more than a few scrapes rather then the expected broken back or fractured skull and is back on duty after a brief spell of hospitalisation. This is only one of several situations that do tend to strain credibility and that mark the entire season. Omar Sy has also stated that he is fan of Disneyland and loves taking his kids there and it occurred to me that in the 4 years since the first 3 seasons the more serious and darker tone of the first 3 seasons would be less kid-friendly, at least for Omar Sy's kids, and Season 4 therefore seems deliberately lighter in tone and with greater emphasis on family - characters smile a lot throughout as if to emphasise the more wholesome tone and there are some clunky, poorly scripted moments intended to reinforce character relationships almost in the manner of a Disney film, besides all the fantastical gadgetry and improbable events that ultimately threaten to derail everything that went before in the preceding 3 seasons. Sy has also noted that a real-life theft of millions of dollars worth of jewellery in France may be a result of "Lupin" and therefore feels a sense of personal responsibility not just to fans but also to his own family which may possibly have influenced the lighter tone of Season 4. Overall it feels like a deliberate attempt to make a more "family-friendly" version of "Lupin" that feels closer to the Anime/comic book versions of the character, and actually, why not, though at the same time I do wonder if, based on the general reaction from fans, Netflix will commission a Season 5 - personally I hope they do and these issues are addressed but that depends on viewer ratings and audience feedback. However, all that said, while Season 4 was occasionally a hard watch, it still has flashes of what made the first 3 seasons so good and compelling to follow and all the high jinks aside the real gem of "Lupin" is still Omar Sy, so my advice is, faults and all, and there are many, stick with it until the concluding episode because it manages to pull everything together for a heartfelt ending. "Lupin" Season 4 , Netflix

Ravi Swami, 28/10/26