Le dernier des Aztèques

The countdown is on. Season 7 of "Astrid et Raphaëlle", France's crime-solving duo, premieres on Friday, November 20, 2026 at 9:10 p.m. on France 2. If you can't wait that long, the first four episodes arrive on france.tv one week earlier, on Friday, November 13. So the wait is really just seven days. The new season has eight 52-minute episodes and takes Sara Mortensen's Astrid Nielsen further from home than she has ever gone: all the way to Tokyo.

Need a quick refresher before you jump back in? Created by Alexandre de Seguins and Laurent Burtin, the series pairs Astrid, a brilliant autistic archivist at the police criminal documentation center, with Major Raphaëlle Coste (Lola Dewaere), an impulsive, big-hearted detective. Astrid brings method and an incredible memory. Raphaëlle helps her navigate a world that often overwhelms her. Over six seasons and 48 episodes, that partnership has become one of France Télévisions' biggest hits. The show has been sold in around 140 countries, and English-speaking viewers know it as "Astrid: Murder in Paris." The last two seasons were rough on its heroines. Season 5 ended with Raphaëlle poisoned at Astrid's wedding. Season 6 opened with her coming out of a coma, her legs paralyzed. Forced off the field, she watched Astrid grow more independent and work more closely with Nicolas Perran (Benoît Michel). The team also said goodbye to Commissaire Carl Bachert (Jean-Louis Garçon), who left for a new post. Commissaire Vassieux, played by Hubert Roulleau, took his place. Then the Season 6 finale, set in a puzzle collector's manor, put the two women in a situation that could have ended their partnership for good.

Season 7 picks up the pieces and raises the stakes. The opener, "Kitsuné," hits close to home. Apu Tanaka, the uncle of Astrid's partner Tetsuo and a close friend of Astrid's, is found poisoned inside the criminal documentation center itself. Raphaëlle breaks the rules to send Astrid and Tetsuo to Tokyo, on the trail of an old unsolved crime that Apu seems to have been part of. In episode 2, "La Forêt," the story jumps between Paris and Japan as Astrid and Raphaëlle team up with Japanese inspector Reiko Kondo. Their case involves fake identities, Japanese legends, a cursed forest and long-buried family secrets. It's an exciting change of scenery for a show that has always loved strange, eye-catching mysteries. And it isn't just for show: this season is a co-production with Japan's NHK Enterprises and was filmed partly in Tokyo, where the series has a big following.

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