Citadel is one of the most expensive television series ever made, with a production budget of $300 million for a six-episode first season, and very little of that money shows up as a reason to watch. Created by Josh Appelbaum, Bryan Oh and David Weil for Prime Video, with the Russo brothers as executive producers, it is a spy show built on a premise that sounds like a pitch and plays like one.
Trailer, via Prime Video Canada.
The Premise
What if a spy did not know they were a spy? Years ago the top agents of Citadel, Mason Kane and Nadia Sinh, were attacked by members of a rival agency and had their memories wiped. Now they are called back into action as forces from the past emerge, and with the help of spymaster Bernard Orlick these former lovers have to remember who they were to save the future.
That is a serviceable engine for a season of television. Citadel treats it as a destination instead.
Madden and Chopra
Richard Madden plays Mason Kane, living as Kyle Conroy, and Priyanka Chopra plays Nadia. Both are capable leads and neither is given a character. Mason’s amnesia means he spends the season reacting, and the writing never finds the man underneath the reactions. Chopra fares better because Nadia gets to know things, but the show keeps her at arm’s length too.
Stanley Tucci, as Bernard Orlick, is the only performer who seems to be enjoying himself. Lesley Manville plays Dahlia Archer and Roland Møller plays the Silje brothers, and both are wasted on villainy the script never makes specific.
The Money
The set pieces are large and clean and oddly weightless. A show that cost this much should look like nothing else on television. Citadel looks like a very expensive version of everything else on television, and its action carries no consequence because its characters carry no history.
Season Two and the Spin-Offs
The first season premiered in April 2023. Amazon renewed it a month before it aired, and a seven-episode second season premiered on May 6, 2026. Spin-offs came faster than the main show: the Italian series Citadel: Diana in October 2024 and the Indian series Citadel: Honey Bunny in November 2024, with shows set in Spain and Mexico announced. The franchise was built before the story was.
What Works
The premise of two people who loved each other and cannot remember it has real feeling in it, and the show finds that feeling in flashes. The pace is fast. Nobody is bored. The problem is that nobody is moved either.
The Verdict
Citadel is proof that scale is not the same as ambition. It is a competent spy show with a great cast, a huge budget and nothing to say, and the gap between what it cost and what it delivers is the most interesting thing about it.
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