''Citadel'' is an American

spy Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

action thriller Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include lif ...

television series created by

Josh Appelbaum Josh Appelbaum is an American television writer, screenwriter, showrunner and producer. Biography Appelbaum is from a Jewish family.David Weil David Weil is an American academic and economist who was the nominee to serve as administrator of the Wage and Hour Division at the United States Department of Labor in the Biden administration. He previously served in this role during the Obama ...

for

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

, with the

Russo brothers Anthony Russo (born February 3, 1970) and Joseph Russo (born July 18, 1971), collectively known as the Russo brothers (), are American directors, producers, and screenwriters. They direct most of their work together. They are best known for dir ...

acting as

executive producers Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

. It stars

Richard Madden Richard Madden (born 18 June 1986) is a Scottish actor. He was cast in his first role at age 11 and made his screen acting debut in 2000. He later began performing on stage whilst a student at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. In 2007, he t ...

and

Priyanka Chopra Jonas Priyanka Chopra Jonas (; ; born 18 July 1982) is an Indian actress and producer. The winner of the Miss World 2000 pageant, Chopra is one of India's highest-paid actresses and has received numerous accolades, including two National Film Awar ...

as Citadel agents Mason Kane and Nadia Sinh, respectively, with

Stanley Tucci Stanley Tucci Jr. ( ; born November 11, 1960) is an American actor and filmmaker. Involved in acting from a young age, he made his film debut in John Huston's ''Prizzi's Honor'' (1985), and continued to play a variety of supporting roles in film ...

and

Lesley Manville Lesley Ann Manville (born 12 March 1956) is an English actress known for her frequent collaborations with Mike Leigh, appearing in the films ''Grown-Ups'' (1980), '' High Hopes'' (1988), '' Secrets & Lies'' (1996), ''Topsy-Turvy'' (1999), '' A ...

among the main cast. With a production budget of US$300 million, the six-episode first season ranks as one of the most expensive television shows. The first season premiered on April 28, 2023, with its first two episodes. In March 2023, it was renewed for a second season, with Joe Russo announced to direct all the episodes in the season. ''Citadel'' will include spin-off shows in different languages set in the Italian Alps, India, Spain and Mexico. The Indian series, starring

Varun Dhawan Varun Dhawan (; born 24 April 1987) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. One of India's highest-paid actors, he has been featured in ''Forbes India'' Celebrity 100 list since 2014. He has starred in 11 consecutive box-office successes b ...

and

Samantha Ruth Prabhu Samantha Ruth Prabhu (formerly: Samantha Akkineni; born 28 April 1987) is an Indian actress who mainly works in Telugu and Tamil film industries. She is a recipient of several awards, including four South Filmfare Awards, six South Indian I ...

, will be directed by Raj & DK. The Italian series titled ''Citadel: Diana'' is produced by Cattleya, part of

ITV Studios ITV Studios is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcas ...

, and will be released in 2024.

Cast

Main

as ** Mason Kane, a top-class Citadel spy agent, Nadia's work partner and lover ** Kyle Conroy, Mason's identity after his memory was erased by Bernard, and Abby's husband *

as Nadia Sinh, a top-class Citadel spy agent, Mason's work partner and lover *

Ashleigh Cummings Ashleigh Cummings is an Australian actress. She became known for her role as Robyn Mathers in '' Tomorrow, When the War Began''. The film, based on the book of the same name, earned Cummings a nomination for Best Young Actor at the 2010 Austra ...

as Abby Conroy, wife of Kyle and Celeste Graham, a former Citadel spy. *

Roland Møller Roland Møller (; born 28 May 1972) is a Danish actor. He won the Bodil Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for ''Land of Mine'' (2015), and Best Actor in a Supporting Role for ''Nordvest'' (2013). He has appeared in high-profile films like ...

as Anders and Davik Silje *

Osy Ikhile Osy Ikhile is a British actor best known for his roles as Richard Peterson in '' In the Heart of the Sea'' and Milo Rodricks in ''Childhood's End''. In 2017, he appeared in USS ''Callister'', an episode of the anthology series ''Black Mirror ...

as Carter Spence * Caoilinn Springall as Hendrix Conroy *

as Dahlia Archer, an UK ambassador and Manticore agent *

as Bernard Orlick

Guests

Moira Kelly Moira Kelly (born on March 6, 1968 in Queens, New York) is an American actress. She is known for portraying Kate Moseley in the 1992 film ''The Cutting Edge'' as well as single mother Karen Roe on the teen drama '' One Tree Hill''. She is also k ...

as Joe *

Timothy Busfield Timothy Busfield (born June 12, 1957) is an American actor and director. He has played Elliot Weston on the television series ''thirtysomething''; Mark, the brother-in-law of Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) in ''Field of Dreams''; and Danny Concann ...

as Simmons *

Nikki Amuka-Bird Nikki Amuka-Bird (born 27 February 1976) is a Nigerian-born British actress of the stage, television, and film. Early life Amuka-Bird was born in Delta State, Nigeria, where her father still lives. She left there as a young child with her mot ...

as Grace * Paul Bazely as Rahi Gambhir

Production

Development

Amazon Studios Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...

chief Jennifer Salke first came up with the idea for the series and approached the

and their independent studio

AGBO AGBO (also known as Gozie AGBO) is an independent film and television production company led by Anthony and Joe Russo, best known for their work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, most notably '' Avengers: Infinity War'' and '' Avengers: Endgame ...

about creating an ambitious, global spy show in mid-2018. The series was originally a partnership between AGBO and the screenwriting collective Midnight Radio, consisting of

Josh Appelbaum Josh Appelbaum is an American television writer, screenwriter, showrunner and producer. Biography Appelbaum is from a Jewish family.André Nemec André Nemec (born 1972) is an American writer, showrunner and producer. His screenplays include '' Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol'' and ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles''. He is also the co-creator of CBS's summer hit series ''Zoo'', as ...

. However, they 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 hiring of

David Weil David Weil is an American academic and economist who was the nominee to serve as administrator of the Wage and Hour Division at the United States Department of Labor in the Biden administration. He previously served in this role during the Obama ...

as the new showrunner and to extensive reshoots in 2022. As of 2023, ''Citadel'' was the second most expensive series of all time with a budget of US$300 million. This is largely due to the extensive reshoots which took place with the hiring of David Weil as showrunner. On March 14, 2023, Prime Video renewed the series for a second season.

Casting

Starring alongside Madden and Chopra,

will play Laszlo Milla, a lead operative of Citadel's rival intelligence agency, Manticore.

Filming

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.

Episodes

Music

Alex Belcher composed the first season, while

Henry Jackman Henry Pryce Jackman (born 1974) is an English composer. He composed music for films such as '' Kong: Skull Island'', '' X-Men: First Class'', ''Winnie the Pooh'', ''Wreck-It Ralph'', ''Puss in Boots'', '' Monsters vs. Aliens'', '' Captain Phi ...

served as score producer.

Sony Classical Sony Classical is an American record label founded in 1924 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. In 1980, the Columbia Masterworks label was renamed as CBS Masterworks Records. The CBS Records Group was acquired by S ...

released the soundtrack.

Release

The six-episode series premiered on

on April 28, 2023, with its first two episodes.

Reception

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 54% approval rating with an average rating of 5.7/10, based on 72 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 Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 51 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* * {{Amazon Video original series 2023 American television series debuts 2020s American drama television series 2020s American science fiction television series American action television series American spy drama television series Espionage television series English-language television shows Science fiction adventure television series Amazon Prime Video original programming Television shows filmed in the United Kingdom Television series by Amazon Studios Television shows filmed at Pinewood Studios Television shows filmed in India