'Lupin' Season 4 Ending Explained And Season 5 Theories

[Spoiler Alert] In Lupin Season 4’s ending, Assane Diop got the biggest surprise of his life as he found out that his own son, Raoul, had stabbed him in the back and joined hands with his arch-nemesis, Hubert Pellegrini, to steal the crown jewels of France, which Assane had recently stolen with the help of his daughter, Adele Kapoor. The fourth season began with Raoul eagerly waiting for his trip to Dakar with his father, Assane, who was coming out of prison after four years. At the end of the previous season, Assane had been arrested by the French police, and instead of breaking out of prison, he decided to serve his sentence, because he wanted to lead an honest life so he could become a real father and stay in his son’s life instead of spending his life on the run. However, four days before his release, a copycat thief hit two separate museums in two different cities at the same time, in Lupin’s style, thereby framing Assane for the robbery. 

The thief turned out to be Assane and Juliette Pellegrini’s daughter, Adele Kapoor, whom Hubert had given away to an orphanage in England and lied to his daughter, Juliette, that her baby was stillborn. Both Assane and Juliette had no idea their daughter existed until Adele, now a tech genius, decided to find her biological parents and contacted Juliette, with whom she conspired a plan to steal the crown jewels of France. By imitating the style of Assane’s previous robberies, Juliette and Adele wanted Assane to come on board, but Juliette was aware Assane had decided to lead a straight life, so she was just waiting for the right moment to tell Assane the truth about his daughter and the trouble she had gotten herself into. When Assane learned about Adele, he cancelled his trip to Dakar (which obviously hurt Raoul a lot) and stepped into Lupin’s shoes one last time, to help his daughter escape police custody.

The Guardians of the Treasure

It seemed like Adele had been hunting for the Treasure of the Kings of France long before she met her biological parents, and that was how she came on the radar of the Guardians of the Treasure, who had sworn to protect the Treasure of the Kings and keep it hidden from the public by any means possible. In 1792, after King Louis XVI had been condemned, he reunited the four noble families of France to protect the Treasure of the Kings. These four families came to be known as the Guardians, who passed down their secrets from generation to generation to protect the treasure. Juliette’s family turned out to be one of the Guardians, which was the reason why Juliette knew so much about the treasure; she had learned it all from her father, Hubert Pellegrini. Each of these families was represented by a crown jewel; the Pellegrinis were identified by a diamond, the Charmerace family was given a sapphire, and there were two other families (which hadn’t yet been introduced by the end of the season) associated with the ruby and emerald. I believe they will make an appearance in season 5. Nevertheless, the Guardians had to ban Diamond, that is, Hubert Pellegrini, from their guild after Hubert was defeated and embarrassed by a Senegalese thief, Assane Diop. I guess this was why Hubert wanted to steal the treasure from Assane, so he could show the Guardians what he was capable of, or maybe it was his attempt at returning the treasure so he could re-enter the guild and restore the glory of his family’s name.

Assane Makes His Move

The treasure, hidden inside the catacombs, under the police station, was protected by a security service called Varennes (named after a small town in France where Louis XVI and other members of the royal family were arrested during the French Revolution). It seemed like Varennes Security Services was created by the Guardians to protect the Treasure of the Kings of France, but as time passed, they broadened their area of service and started handling the relocation of the super-wealthy’s fortune in case of threat or emergency, just like the Guardians had protected and relocated the Treasure of the Kings over the centuries. When the two Guardians (Ruby and Emerald) discovered that Assane and his daughter had found the treasure, they asked the head of the Charmerace family, Guillaume, to activate the Varennes Protocol to relocate the treasure in order to make it disappear. The reason being, the first priority of the Guardians was to keep the treasure hidden, and make the public believe it never existed. This was why Charmerace and his men were hunting for Adele, as they didn’t want her to go looking for the treasure or find any clues that could establish the existence of any such treasure. Nevertheless, Charmerace, who knew Assane from childhood, didn’t want to trigger the Varennes Protocol, as he knew it was what Assane wanted, since stealing the treasure from the catacombs was far more difficult than stealing it during the transfer. However, after Assane and his best friend, Benjamin Ferel, flooded the Seine (with water seeping into the tunnels), Charmerace had to activate the Varennes Protocol, as water inside the catacombs would have destroyed the rare paintings and artefacts; so, in order to protect the treasure, he decided to move it from the tunnels, and that was when Assane and his team decided to steal it.

In Lupin Season 4’s ending, Juliette, wearing a super-realistic prosthetic mask, like the ones featured in the Mission: Impossible franchise, took the disguise of corrupt police chief Korvin (who was on Charmerace’s payroll) and knocked her out outside the police station, locking the police chief in the trunk of her car. Then, Juliette drove to Charmerace while he was preparing to move the treasure to another safe location, where Juliette requested that Charmerace let her sit in the truck carrying the treasure so she could stop Assane herself if he dared to attack the convoy. In the meantime, Assane distracted Charmerace and the police, so they wouldn’t suspect that the person who was going to steal the treasure was sitting right next to the driver transferring the treasure. In the end, Juliette sprayed the driver with a sedative, knocked him out, and took the wheel, while Adele’s drone hacked the truck’s GPS system so that Charmerace wouldn’t be able to track the treasure. Though it all seemed a bit “impossible” to me, as making such a huge truck disappear isn’t an easy task. I mean, anyone can follow it and spot it on the police surveillance system, but considering the makers of the show pulled off Mission:Impossible tricks, they just want us to believe without question that Assane and his team managed to pull off the “impossible.”

Raoul Discovers His Father’s Secret 

Since the beginning of the season, Raoul had been yearning for his father’s love and attention, and Assane was aware of this, which was why he had planned a father-son trip to Dakar, so he could show his son his grandfather’s homeland and introduce him to his roots. However, after a copycat Lupin showed up, Assane’s priorities changed, as he first needed to clear his name so he didn’t spend the rest of his life running from the police. This was the whole reason why he spent 4 years in prison and finished his sentence in the first place, so he could lead an honest life. But instead of explaining his plight to Raoul, Assane simply lied to him, because running away from his problems had always been easier than confronting them. Raoul, in the meantime, was trying everything to get his father’s attention and validation. When a fake Lupin showed up, Raoul went to the National History Museum in Paris to meet his father, where he saw Officer Sofia Belkacem pointing a gun at the copycat thief running away from her. Raoul, hiding inside a narrow room, assumed Sofia was going to shoot his father, and therefore pushed her over the railing, sending her straight to the hospital. Raoul had planned to tell Assane the truth about his mistake during their trip to Dakar, but before they could reach Paris, Assane found out about his daughter and decided to postpone the trip, which pushed Raoul further away. He was extremely hurt when he found out that his father had lied to him about his passport to cancel the trip, instead of telling him the truth. And while Assane was hunting the treasure with his new family, Juliette and Adele, Raoul decided to follow them, which was how he learned about his father’s second family, which Raoul believed Assane had intentionally kept hidden from him and his mother, Claire Laurent. This wasn’t exactly true because, Assane himself hadn’t known that Juliette had given birth to his daughter; however, when Adele showed up, Assane’s priorities shifted from travelling with his son to saving his daughter’s life, as he believed a trip could wait, but the men trying to kill Adele wouldn’t. I believe Assane’s only misstep in the whole situation was that he failed to be honest with Raoul. And you can see the irony here: Assane wanted to lead an honest life so he could be with his son, but he failed to be honest with him. Raoul learned the truth by following his father when he saw him, Juliette, and Adele at the Chapelle expiatoire (which also happened to be Louis XVI’s tomb). This was when Raoul decided to find out more about his father’s secret life, and contacted the only man who knew Assane Diop inside-out, Assane’s arch-nemesis, Hubert Pellegrini.

At the end of season 3, Assane was locked up in the cell next to Hubert, and as the fourth season makes a time jump of four long years, we don’t exactly know what happened between them. However, in a flashback sequence from some four years ago,  Assane helped Hubert escape prison, and told him that he was sending him to Argentina, as the country didn’t have an extradition agreement with France. Well, as it turned out, it was another trick pulled off by Assane to make sure the man who had tormented his whole family (especially his father) would spend the rest of his life in prison. Instead of helping Hubert escape to Argentina, Assane had actually sent him to Malaysia, where he was arrested by the authorities in connection with his previous crimes in Kuala Lumpur. As it turned out, Malaysia didn’t have any extradition treaty with France either, and Assane wanted to keep Hubert as far away from his family as possible.

While Hubert was serving out his sentence in Malaysia, Raoul contacted him to learn about his father’s double life. The makers didn’t bother explaining how Raoul found out where Hubert was, or in which prison he was locked up, but just like the rest of the show, let’s just assume he figured it out. Nevertheless, Hubert told Raoul about Juliette and Adele, which convinced Raoul that Assane not only broke his trust, but also cheated on his mother, giving him yet another reason to go against his father. Obviously, Raoul didn’t know the whole story; it was his mother, Claire, who’d snitched on Juliette and told Hubert about his daughter’s growing fondness for Assane when they were still teenagers. Shortly after this, Hubert had warned Juliette to never see Assane again if she wanted him to live; however, Assane didn’t feel betrayed by Claire, as he believed Hubert would have found out about his relationship with Juliette anyway, as Juliette had gotten pregnant with his child.

Raoul Betrays Assane

The information about Assane’s secret family, along with the fact that Assane had carried out another heist, even after he promised Raoul that he would retire to lead a straight life, made Raoul realize that his father was nothing but a liar and a hypocrite. On the one hand, he wanted to keep Raoul away from the world of crime and scolded him for being a part of the robbery; on the other hand, he was planning heist after heist with his daughter. In both cases, Assane was trying to protect his children; Adele from the Guardians and Raoul from the world of crime, but Raoul mistook his father’s protection for negligence. The thing is, all Raoul wanted was to become a part of Assane’s world (whichever world it was). He was done being neglected by his father, and yearned for his attention, but amidst all the chaos, Assane failed to give time to Raoul or sit with him for a second to listen to what he was going through, and that was how Assane failed as a father. In the meantime, Hubert laid a trap for curious Raoul, and asked him to transfer 10,000 euros (which I think he had arranged by stealing cars) that Hubert needed to hire a lawyer and get out of prison. Raoul lied to his mother that he was going to Dakar, and instead boarded a plane bound for Kuala Lumpur, where he handed over the money to Hubert in exchange for information. Hubert told Raoul everything about his father’s affair, the secret child, and the Treasure of the Kings. Listening to these stories made Raoul feel involved, something he expected from Assane, who only lied and kept him in the dark. In a way, Hubert filled the void inside Raoul created by his father’s absence, and made the young lad think that at least someone was being honest with him. For the whole of season 4, Raoul had been struggling to decide between right and wrong, that is, to either walk in his father’s footsteps or stay away from the world of crime, but after watching Assane carrying out another heist with his daughter, Raoul got convinced that it was in his blood to be a criminal, and no matter how much he ran away from it, someday he would have to embrace it. This was why he decided to join hands with Hubert and planned to steal the treasure from his own father.

In Lupin Season 4’s ending, Hubert’s thugs showed up at Benjamin’s antique shop and took Raoul and Adele away. This scene took place right after the Guardians (Ruby and Emerald) told Charmerace (Sapphire) that they were going to deal with Assane in their own way, which made it seem like it was the Guardians who abducted Assane’s children, but that wasn’t the case. It was Raoul and Hubert’s plan to force Assane to hand the treasure over for the safety of his children. I think we will witness the Guardians’ revenge in the next season, as they still believe it’s Assane who stole their treasure. Nevertheless, as soon as Assane got the news of his children’s kidnapping, he drove the truck, filled with treasure, to Saint-Cloud Park, where Hubert was waiting with the biggest surprise of Assane’s life: the betrayal from his own son, the same way Assane had turned Hubert’s daughter against him.

Assane Takes a Bullet for Raoul

You see, Assane didn’t plan one of the biggest heists of his career to prove himself as a thief, instead, he stole the Treasure of the Kings to protect his daughter. His plan was to expose the Guardians and strip them of their power, so they would stop hunting Adele. Hence, Assane’s only priority throughout this season had been clear; he just wanted to make sure his children were safe. However, Assane found himself in a fix when his own son decided to hurt his daughter to force Assane to choose between the two, and being a father, Assane couldn’t make that choice. Raoul, on the other hand, had already made his choice, as he wanted to step into the world of crime with Hubert, but before leaving on a helicopter, he gave Assane one final chance to choose him. Raoul and Hubert (I think it was Raoul’s plan) strapped a fake bomb to Adele’s back, and Raoul activated the timer, asking Assane to either leave with him in the chopper to become the best version of Lupin, or stay back and die with his daughter, and Assane did the right thing. He tried to save his child’s life and stayed back. Well, he would have done the same thing if it were Raoul in Adele’s place. Coincidentally, Assane got the opportunity to show to Raoul that, being a father, his first priority had always been the safety of his kids. The bomb turned out to be fake, but before Raoul could board the chopper, police officers Sofia and Youssef arrived there to arrest Raoul for the attempted murder of a law enforcement officer. By now, Sofia had figured out that it was Raoul who pushed her over the railing. 

In Season 4’s ending, Sofia pointed a gun at Raoul, asking him to stop, and when he didn’t listen, she pulled the trigger; suddenly, Assane stepped in the way and got hit. As mentioned earlier, he put his own life at risk to protect Raoul, the same way he chose to protect Adele’s. I guess, in the next season, Assane’s selfless love for his children will convince Raoul to come back to his family and surrender to the police so he can serve out his sentence and live an honest life, something his parents wanted from him. Also, it’s possible that Sofia may feel guilty for shooting Assane, and she may consider dropping the charges against Raoul so he doesn’t have to go to prison. Well, I guess we will find out, but for now, Raoul has flown away with Hubert, and I am not sure how long he’s going to side with the enemy. He’d already told Assane that he would ditch Hubert if he got on the chopper with him, which makes me believe the Raoul-Hubert partnership won’t survive for long, as Raoul knows that men like Hubert can’t be trusted for long. I think we will find out.

Assane Will Survive

Even though the fourth season ended with Assane getting shot near the heart, we all know that he’s going to survive and return to our screens for a fifth season (unless Netflix cancels the show). In season 5, Assane, once recovered from his wounds, will try to locate Raoul, with Adele’s help, so he can convince him to leave Hubert’s side, return to the family, and surrender himself to the law. Assane may also work with the police to get Hubert arrested again, in return for his son’s safety, because as long as Hubert’s free, none of them are safe. It’s also possible that the police may offer Assane a deal to clear his son’s name if he helps them find Hubert. In the meantime, Youssef will use the recording from Korvin’s office to get her arrested for corruption, and I think in the next season, we can expect Youssef to become the next police chief, who will try to help his friend, Assane, bring his son to safety. Additionally, Charmerace and the rest of the Guardians won’t let the matter go easily, as they still believe that Assane has stolen the kings’ treasure, so they are going to target Assane and his family to get back what was taken from them. However, it’s possible that Hubert will make some deal with the Guardians, letting them know that he has their treasure, though I am not sure if someone as greedy as Hubert would do something like that, as to me, it seems like Hubert’s plan is to make the treasure disappear so he can use the wealth to serve his own interests. So the Guardians are likely to pin the blame on Assane, and may threaten people close to him in order to force him to steal the treasure from Hubert and return it to them. Well, whatever happens next, Assane is not going to let Hubert Pellegrini get away so easily, so we know who his next target is; the only question is how Assane is going to bring down Hubert once again.

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