‘Lupin’ Star Omar Sy Explains Season 4 Premiere’s Big Changes & Teases What’s Next

Omar Sy is back as Assane Diop in Lupin Part 4, and Assane is facing a threat he never expected: a copycat criminal who not only has framed the infamous Lupin on the eve of his release from prison, but also has proven to be a worthy opponent for the previously peerless gentleman thief. Warning: Lupin Part 4 Episode 1 spoilers ahead!

Lupin Season 4 premiered on Netflix on Friday, October 23, with all eight episodes. The hit French series, which was in the Netflix Top 10 in 90 countries in previous seasons and has generated $100 million for the French economy, is inspired by the gentleman detective and thief Arsène Lupin, a character created by French author Maurice Leblanc.

Assane Diop is a modern-day man who uses Leblanc’s Lupin stories as his personal guidebook for his elaborate heists carried out on a quest for revenge. But in Season 4, the plot dives into more original storytelling that expands the world of the show. These changes were a condition for Sy’s return to the series, which has been on a three-year hiatus. In addition to starring as Assane/Lupin, Sy now serves as co-showrunner, an upgrade from his previous position of artistic producer.

In the Lupin Part 4 premiere, Assane is patiently awaiting his release from prison after serving four years. He wants to leave the Lupin persona behind and start anew with his son, Raoul (Théo Christine, previously Etan Simon), but the copycat criminal has other plans. To prove his innocence, Assane makes easy work of breaking out of prison — showing that he chose to stay in prison all these years — and sets out to find the copycat and clear his name.

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Here, Sy breaks down the first episode and teases what’s next. Plus, the French star explains the more cinematic feel they made for the new season in their efforts to define their own Lupin universe. You can read the interview below or watch it in the video above.

This season shows your character trying to be rid of the Lupin persona. He’s almost at the end of his prison sentence and wants a fresh start with his son. How has he changed during his time in prison?

Omar Sy: He realized that for him it was very difficult to be a dad and keep having that persona, Lupin, who caused a lot of trouble for him. So he decided to really get rid of him, going on a straight journey, going to jail and make sure that it’s going to be clear and clean, and things [are] not going to happen that smooth. It’s going to be complicated because someone else takes the persona and brings it back and he has to put the uniform [on] again to claim his innocence and find the real guilty [person].

As you say, he wants to be rid of this persona, but was he feeling truly done with it? Did any part of him miss it at all or was he really wanting a new start?

No, he really wants that. At least he thinks that he really wants a new start and he thinks maybe that can be something completely gone from his life, but things are not going to happen like that. And we’ll know that he wants [it] to be out of him, but it’s also him, but he has to really learn how to live with both sides of him actually.

Selly Sy/Netflix

We learn in Episode 1 that his ex-wife is in a new relationship with someone new. How much does he know about this dynamic? Because it clearly has transpired while he was in jail.

You’ll see on this next episode that he’s going to discover that and then see that life went on when he was in jail. All the backfire, impact of all his actions in the past, he will have to face that because going to jail, it’s not the solution for him to really face the way he acted in the past and to realize what Lupin has done to his life, too.

Tell me about filming on that high-security prison set when Assane is in that confinement box and there’s prisoners all around him. It’s a unique prison cell that they’ve designed for him. 

It was amazing for us because it’s really one of the scenes that we write it and we imagine for the show because the show was inspired by a book and we always try to bring things from the book in the show. This season, we allowed ourselves to really dare to bring something really from the show, the universe that we created with the show.

That specific prison, that glass box was something that’s us, that’s not from the book. So, [the challenge was] how can we create that and really enjoy creating something new coming from the show? This prison was really so challenging, [but] at the same time, so entertaining even for us to imagine, to write, to realize, to build. It was really, really cool for us. And I love this moment.

Emmanuel Guimier/Netflix

It’s very cinematic. I wonder what Assane discovered about himself during prison, because of course he can’t be Lupin in prison. What parts of his more true self maybe has he gotten in touch with during this time between seasons?

I think it’s different, that really he can be Lupin in prison because we know that he’s able really to escape, but he decided to stay. And I think that’s more the challenge for him. How can he leave without using Lupin? Because Lupin is a tool to escape. Lupin is a tool to be protected. So, how can he live Assane’s life without using Lupin?

There’s more things that he’s going to learn in prison, but the first episode stops all that process because he has to use Lupin again to get what he needs.

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And as you said, he is forced to break out of jail to prove his innocence, but breaking out can also get him in trouble. Why was that a necessary risk for him to take?

Because there is [no other option], that’s the only one. That’s the only one because everyone think he’s [the copycat Lupin], so the only way to show that’s not him [is] he has to prove that he’s the only one smart and strong enough to find that person. And it’s also because that person wants him, so he has to go and find him.

And is his gut telling him it’s somehow tied to [Hubert] Pellegrini [Hervé Pierre]? Of course, we see him in this foreign prison in Episode 1, but what does Assane suspect?

For now, he has no clue. He was locked [in prison] for so long that he doesn’t know, and that’s why he has to go out to find out.

Emmanuel Guimier/Netflix

Is there any part of him that’s excited by the concept of this copycat criminal?

Yeah, because he has a reason to take the persona back. And I think inside there is a fire that needs that for him. So yeah, I think there’s a part of him that’s really exciting [for] and it’s kind of released that he has a reason to go back.

And maybe someone who could really challenge him.

Exactly, exactly.

How does the threat of this copycat criminal, even with the excitement that it brings, make Assane more afraid for his future with his son?

Because it’s really ruining the plan. The plan was going out of jail and having a new start with his son, but he’ll have to lie and hide again, so it’s ruining the plan again. Lupin, the persona, is going again on his path of that hood. He cannot be a father again because Lupin is on the line.

Lupin, Season 4, Streaming Now, Netflix