Citadel (TV series)

Citadel is an American spy action television series created by Josh Appelbaum, Bryan Oh, and David Weil for Amazon Prime Video, with the Russo brothers acting as executive producers. It stars Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra as secret agents Mason Kane and Nadia Sinh who, after being attacked by members of a rival agency and having their memories wiped, must reclaim their lost identities and fight back.

With a production budget of US$300 million, the six-episode first season ranks as one of the most expensive television series ever made. The first season premiered on April 28, 2023. In March 2023, it was renewed for a second season, which will premiere on May 6, 2026, with all seven episodes.

Multiple non-English language spin-off shows were announced, with settings in the Italian Alps, India, Spain and Mexico. The Italian series, Citadel: Diana, premiered on October 10, 2024, while the Indian series, Citadel: Honey Bunny, premiered on November 7, 2024.

• Richard Madden as

  • Mason Kane: a top-class Citadel spy agent; Nadia's husband and work partner; Asha's father (2023–present)
  • Kyle Conroy: Mason's identity after his memory was erased; Abby's husband (2023)

• Priyanka Chopra as

  • Nadia Sinh: a top-class Citadel spy agent; Mason's wife and work partner; Asha's mother (2023–present)
  • Charlotte Vernon: Nadia's identity as a restaurant manager in Valencia after her memory was wiped (2023)

• Stanley Tucci as Bernard Orlick: a Citadel associate and key member of the spy team (2023–present)

• Lesley Manville as Dahlia Archer, a UK ambassador and Manticore agent (2023–present)

• Ashleigh Cummings as

  • Abby Conroy, Kyle's wife; Hendrix's mother
  • Celeste Graham, a former Citadel spy

• Roland Møller as Anders and Davik Silje

• Osy Ikhile as Carter Spence

• Caoilinn Springall as Hendrix Conroy, Abby and Kyle's daughter

• Matt Berry as Frank Sharpe

• Michael Trucco

• Jack Reynor as Hutch

• Lina El Arabi as Celine Rohr

• Rahul Kohli

• Merle Dandridge as Joana Malvern

• Gabriel Leone as Paolo Braga

• Rayna Vallandingham as Aparna

• Moira Kelly as Joe

• Timothy Busfield as Simmons

• Nikki Amuka-Bird as Grace

• Paul Bazely as Rahi Gambhir: Older version of Nadia's father, younger version is played by Varun Dhawan in the prequel series Citadel: Honey Bunny.

Amazon Studios chief Jennifer Salke first came up with the idea for the series and approached the Russo brothers and their independent studio AGBO about creating an ambitious, global spy show in mid-2018. The series was originally a partnership between AGBO and the screenwriting collective Midnight Radio, comprising Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec. Appelbaum and Nemec departed the show during production in 2021, due to creative differences with the Russos. The Russos set up a second editing team and cut an alternate version of the season to compete with the main team, and Amazon chose the Russos' version after focus-group testings. This led to the hiring of David Weil as the new showrunner and extensive reshoots in 2022.

As of 2023, Citadel was the second most expensive series of all time with a budget of US$300 million, largely due to the reshoots following Weil's hiring. Prime Video renewed the series for a second season on March 14, 2023.

Starring alongside Madden and Chopra, Roland Møller will play Laszlo Milla, a lead operative of Citadel's rival intelligence agency, Manticore.

Filming on the main series began in January 2021 and wrapped the following December. However, reshoots occurred in early and mid-2022 under the supervision of Weil, the Russos, and director Thomas Sigel.

Joe Russo, David Weil and Greg Yaitanes served as directors of the second season.

Jeff Russo was hired to write the score for season 2 which was recorded in April 2025 at London's Air Lyndhurst Studio.

Alex Belcher composed the first season, while Henry Jackman served as score producer. Sony Classical released the soundtrack.

The series had its world premiere, with the release of the first two episodes, on 14 April 2023 as the surprise screening for the opening night of the Sands Film Festival in St Andrews, Scotland. The six-episode first season premiered on Amazon Prime Video on April 28 2023, with its first two episodes.

The second season is set to premiere on May 6, 2026, with all seven episodes.

Citadel will include spin-off shows in different languages set in the Italian Alps, India, Spain, and Mexico. The Italian series, titled Citadel: Diana, is produced by Cattleya, part of ITV Studios, and was released in 2024. At the end of season 1 of Citadel, there was a trailer for Citadel: Diana. The series was aired on October 9, 2024. The Indian series, titled Citadel: Honey Bunny, starring Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu, was directed by Raj & DK and revolves around the story of Honey and Bunny, who are the parents of the character Nadia Sinh. It premiered on November 7, 2024. Both series were cancelled on April 16, 2025.

For the first season, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 52% approval rating with an average rating of 5.7/10, based on 81 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Citadel spares no expense but still feels underdeveloped, yielding a fairly fun spy caper that nonetheless creaks under the weight of its own exorbitance." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 51 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

The Economist called it "a big-budget, low-imagination thriller with plenty of explosions and no surprises." Despite the criticism it was picked up for a second season slated to release in 2026.

Citadel was nominated for two awards at the 22nd Visual Effects Society Awards.

• Official website at AGBO
• Official website at Prime Video
• Citadel at IMDb