Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Prime Video
Karl Conroy (Richard Madden) has a very nice life in Eugene, Oregon, including a comfortable home, beautiful wife, and an adorable daughter. It’s all the more impressive considering where he started from: waking up in an Italian hospital bed with retrograde amnesia, his only persistent memory of one beautiful woman. What we know, and he doesn’t, is that, before his amnesia, Karl was Mason Kane, an international super-spy in a very secret agency called Citadel…and he’s about to get called back to active service.
According to a THR report earlier this month, Prime Video’s Citadel is the second-most expensive series Amazon has ever made (after The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power). “Multiple sources” chalk the price tag up to “differences in vision” that caused “half the creative team” to depart the project, requiring “a round of expensive reshoots.” But, evidently, the studio is unconcerned: It was renewed for a second season more than a month before its April 28 premiere.
The series has all the elements audiences expect to see in a spy drama: sexy leads, shifting allegiances, fast-paced fight scenes, and globe-trotting action. Its ambitions are reflected in the pedigree of its behind-the-scenes talent, including executive producer Joe Russo. With his brother Anthony (also a Citadel EP), Russo directed the last two Avengers films, plus Captain America: Civil War; the Russos also produced this year’s Best Picture Oscar winner, Everything Everywhere All At Once.