Citadel, the high-stakes sci-fi thriller starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden, has been renewed for a second season. In a tweet, Amazon Prime Video confirmed that Joe Russo — one-half of the show’s executive producing duo, the Russo Brothers — will solely direct the entire second season. David Weil will resume showrunning duties on the series, which according to Amazon is its fourth most-watched show worldwide. Clearly, the $300 million (about Rs. 2,482) crore budget for six episodes has paid off in viewership numbers, making it the second-most expensive series in television history, after The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power from the same studio.
“Citadel is a truly global phenomenon,” Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios said in a prepared statement (via Variety). “Our goal was always to create a new franchise rooted in original IP that would grow Prime Video’s international audience. This show has drawn an outsized number of new international customers to Prime Video.” In addition to greenlighting season 2, she also confirmed that Citadel’s premiere episode is now available to watch for free globally, without a Prime membership. Of course, users will still be required to sign in to their Amazon accounts.
The interconnect global series comes from the Russo Brothers’ AGBO banner, through which the Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame directors have been experimenting with dramas and action-packed affairs such as Netflix’s The Gray Man. The first season of Citadel was primarily directed by Newton Thomas Sigel and Jessica Yu, though the Russos took upon some duties on unspecified episodes.
Citadel is best described as ‘an expansive and groundbreaking global event series’, with regional spin-offs set in India, Italy, Brazil, France, and Mexico. The aforementioned US version follows Chopra Jonas and Madden as former elite agents, who after having their memories wiped out, rebuild their lives under new identities. That is, until a former Citadel colleague tracks and summons them back into the force to help take down the Manticore, a powerful crime syndicate.
The Indian spin-off version of the Citadel franchise was greenlit in December, with Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu leading — presumably as a pair of spies. Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. (Raj and DK) — best known for The Family Man — serve as showrunners, writers, and directors on the show. Sita R. Menon (Go Goa Gone) has co-written Citadel India. An Italian-language production headlined by Matilda De Angelis (The Undoing) is also in the works at Amazon Studios.
Currently, there is no release window for Citadel season 2. All six episodes of the first season are now available to stream on Prime Video.
