Lupin ends its fourth season by turning Assane’s greatest heist into a personal defeat: he gets the treasure away from the Guardians, but Raoul sides with Hubert Pellegrini, and Assane is shot while trying to protect his family. The finale leaves the series with a sharp question for a potential fifth season: can Assane survive the consequences of a choice his son forced him to make?
Picture Credit: Netflix
The Varenne Procedure turns the Guardians’ strength against them
The finale’s central maneuver begins with Guillaume de Charmerace (Loïc Corbery) convinced that Assane (Omar Sy) will soon be caught. Commissioner Korvin, his corrupt ally, is supposed to help close the net. But the Guardians, who use Sapphire and Ruby as jewel code names, give De Charmerace a deadline: remove Assane within 24 hours or they will initiate the “Varenne Procedure.”
Varenne is a private security company responsible for moving the wealth of the world’s richest people to safety during emergencies. Assane understands that the procedure could create an opening. If he can make the Guardians believe their treasure is at risk, they’ll move it—and put the haul within reach of his crew.
That plan depends on the Seine. Assane and Ben (Antoine Gouy) pose as Brigade Fluviale workers and manipulate two dams, pushing the river level up and raising the prospect that the treasure’s hiding place could flood. The manufactured emergency does what Assane needs: news reports warn of rising water in Paris, including in the subway, and De Charmerace orders the treasure moved.
The operation also shows why Assane’s plans remain hard to predict. When the red motorbike Ben left behind is seized, Assane switches tactics and takes a horse from a traffic officer. He catches up with the convoy near the Arc de Triomphe, disrupts its police escort and sends officers on a chase through central Paris. The pursuit winds up at the Panthéon, where Assane escapes after drawing the police away from the truck.
Ben and Assane. Cr: Emmanuel Guimier/Netflix.
The convoy’s apparent advantage doesn’t last. A police officer discovers the real Korvin in the trunk of a car. The person posing as the commissioner inside the truck is Juliette Pellegrini, who knocks out the driver and reveals herself. Adèle, meanwhile, uses a drone to scramble the truck’s signal. Assane’s team has intercepted Korvin and taken control of the treasure shipment.
For a moment, the victory seems complete. De Charmerace asks the Guardians for another chance; they tell him they’ll take over. The organization’s response makes clear that Assane’s theft has disrupted more than one transfer. He has exposed the Guardians’ dependence on secrecy and their own emergency procedures.
Raoul’s apparent rescue becomes the real twist
The finale has already complicated Assane’s family life. Raoul (Théo Christine) tells Assane and Claire (Ludivine Sagnier) why he was at the museum on the night of the heist: he doubted his father could pull it off, so he went inside to watch. When Belkacem (Shirine Boutella) spotted him, he panicked and pushed her from a balcony.
Belkacem and Guedira (Soufiane Guerrab) later arrive at Claire’s apartment to arrest Raoul, but the family has disappeared. Assane leaves a clue for Guedira, then asks him to keep the police away from his son while he targets Korvin. Belkacem orders officers to arrest Assane anyway; he fights his way clear and escapes.
After the treasure job, Adèle and Raoul set out to meet Assane, Claire, Ben and Juliette. Masked attackers seize them at Assane’s headquarters. A call from Adèle’s phone then reveals the person behind the abduction: Hubert Pellegrini, who has returned to France and taken both young people. He demands that Assane meet him at the place “where Arsène 1st took its first flight.”
Guedira identifies the literary clue. In Arsène The First, Lupin steals a plane to rescue a kidnapped woman, and the aircraft takes off from the park of Saint-Cloud. Assane brings the treasure truck there, hoping to exchange the haul for Adèle and Raoul.
Cr: Emmanuel Guimier/Netflix.
Hubert makes Adèle walk toward her father with a bomb strapped to her back, warning Assane to stay away. Then Raoul emerges from a second car—and reveals that he has joined Hubert. His anger is about more than the events of the night. He tells Assane he has repeatedly failed to see what was in front of him, including the choices between his family and his Lupin persona.
Raoul explains how the betrayal began. After watching Assane, Adèle and Claire complete their mission involving the royal crown jewels, he contacted Hubert in prison. He never went to Dakar as people believed. Instead, he flew to Kuala Lumpur, where Hubert told him about Assane’s history with Juliette and Adèle, their daughter. Raoul gave Hubert money—possibly from his earlier dealings with a local gang—and helped him get out of prison. Hubert then returned to France, with Raoul secretly working alongside him.
Assane’s final choice leaves him wounded
Raoul forces his father into a choice: save Adèle or save him. When the bomb’s countdown reaches zero, it doesn’t detonate. Raoul says he could never have set it off, but believes Assane has finally chosen Adèle. The moment exposes the emotional bind at the center of the finale: Assane’s instinct to protect people has collided with Raoul’s need to be seen and chosen.
Belkacem and Guedira arrive as Hubert and Raoul prepare to escape by helicopter. Assane steps into the line of fire. Belkacem shoots, misses Raoul and hits Assane in the chest. Claire, Juliette, Ben and Adèle gather around him as he bleeds, while Hubert and Raoul get away.
Assane has faked his death twice before, which gives viewers reason to question what the closing shot means. But the episode offers no clear sign that he had time to stage another escape, and the wound appears serious. The cliffhanger preserves uncertainty without erasing the cost of Raoul’s betrayal.
Season 5 has a clear set of unresolved stories
A fifth season has not been confirmed by Netflix in the source reporting, but writer Florent Meyer said at a Netflix Book Festival screenwriter panel that the team was working on one, according to Télé Loisirs. That points to active development, though it doesn’t settle whether the story will return or when.
If the series continues, Raoul’s alliance with Hubert gives it an immediate emotional conflict. Assane will have to reckon with a son who knows his secrets and has chosen to use them against him. The finale also leaves Korvin’s corruption unresolved: Guedira has recorded evidence that could connect the commissioner to the Guardians.
Adèle’s future offers another thread. She has been living in London with an adoptive mother, and the story reveals that she has taken part in robberies involving powerful people. Sending her back to that life could expose her to danger, while keeping her close to Assane would put her inside the conflict he’s trying to contain.
The fourth season gives Assane a clean tactical win and then makes its consequences personal. If another season arrives, the most pressing question won’t be how he can outsmart the Guardians again. It will be whether he can rebuild trust with Raoul after the son he tried to protect helped bring him down.
