Citadel First Look Released by Prime Video

By Jamie Lovett

Prime Video has revealed the first look at Citadel, its upcoming sci-fi spy thriller from Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo. The series is the flagship of a wider franchise of interconnected stories involving Citadel shows set and produced in other locations, starting with Italy and India. The Russos' installment stars Priyanka Chopra and MCU alum Richard Madden. It's this ambitious approach, imagined by Prime Video head Jennifer Salke, that attracted the Russos to the project. "Anthony and I have reached a point in our careers where the ambition is the compelling part of the approach for us," Joe Russo tells Vanity Fair. "We're looking for new ways to tell stories."

"We're not just creating a story, we're creating this world that's spanning countries and continents," Madden says. "That can be daunting, but also super exciting."

What is Citadel?

The show's title comes from the Citadel organization, for whom both Madden's and Chopra's characters work. The Russos series will be the cornerstone of a franchise of international shows developed locally set in the same shared universe.

"All of the local series are meant to enhance the entire entertainment experience and will be available for the viewer to deep dive into an imagined layered world," Amazon previously explained. India and Italy will host the first two satellite shows. Additional series set in Senegal, Spain, and Mexico are also planned.

Citadel reshoots

A previous report suggested that there were some problems with Citadel. The Hollywood Reporter stated that reshoots and a creative overall, with writer Josh Applebaum let go from the project, were needed when initial footage disappointed Amazon and the show's budget began to balloon out of control. At the time, the Russos' attention had been divided between Citadel and their Netflix film The Gray Man.

"What should have happened was Joe turning to Josh and saying, 'Let's get together and fix this' instead of going solo," one source said. "That's not what partners are supposed to do."

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When does Citadel debut on Prime Video?

Despite the reportedly shaky production, Amazon is projecting confidence in Citadel, with Salke talking it up during an interview with Variety about the streamer's other big bet, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. "Local language and regional series are very important to us. We're investing hugely in Citadel from the Russo Brothers," Salke said. "It's a big global [spy thriller]. I've seen the first three episodes. The whole idea behind that show is global storytelling with standalone local series that feed into the storylines and fill in details about specific characters. So there's a show set in India featuring a big star and showrunners there who are working under the umbrella of Citadel that will fill in the details of Priyanka Chopra's character. And in Italy, we're doing the same, and there's another in Senegal. We had an international Citadel summit [at Amazon Studios headquarters in Culver City] where we showed some of the footage from Joe and Anthony [Russo]. So we're experimenting with stuff like that."

Citadel's first season consists of six episodes. The first two episodes of Citadel debut on Prime video on April 28th.

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