VARIETY: Leads Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden kicked off the global tour of Prime Video series “Citadel” with its Asia Pacific premiere in Mumbai on Monday.
The series, created by Amazon Studios and the Russo Brothers’ AGBO, with David Weil serving as showrunner and executive producer, revolves around independent global spy agency Citadel, which has been destroyed by syndicate Manticore. With Citadel’s fall, elite agents Mason Kane (Richard Madden) and Nadia Sinh (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) had their memories wiped as they narrowly escaped with their lives and have remained hidden ever since, building new lives under new identities, unaware of their pasts. Until one night, when Mason is tracked down by his former Citadel colleague, Bernard Orlick (Stanley Tucci), who desperately needs his help to prevent Manticore from establishing a new world order. The six episode series also features Lesley Manville in a pivotal role.
Chopra Jonas said: “When Jennifer Salke, who is the head of Amazon Studios, presented ‘Citadel’ to me, she wanted to create an international, global franchise – an original IP that truly connects the world. Amazon strongly believes in diversity; and true diversity is represented internationally, not just by having different skin tones, but also by hearing the way people speak, actually delving into the culture. And this show has incredible ability to span across every country and continent. So, I didn’t even know the story and I said yep, doing it.”
Madden added: “’Citadel’ has been incredibly physically demanding. But I think that’s what really drew me to it. It’s not simply a gun show or a fight sequence. This is how these two characters interact physically and how they dance together.”
Chopra Jonas has been in a candid frame of mind of late, revealing recently the reasons she quit Bollywood. During the “Citadel” media interaction in Mumbai, the actor said: “I can’t work with people I don’t like anymore. It’s really non-negotiable for me. I have to admire, look up to and like the people that I work with, like the people that I’m surrounded with. I’ve been doing this for a very long time and I want to be excited about going to work, I want to be inspired about going to work and that’s become non-negotiable for me. So when I meet the people that I’m going to work with, I take notes in a little pad. But that truly is something that as I’ve evolved become very important to me.”
Gaurav Gandhi, VP, Asia Pacific, Prime Video, said: “We are excited to open the first window to the great universe of ‘Citadel’ and thrilled that we get to host the Asia Pacific premiere in Mumbai. ‘Citadel’ is the beginning of a new, ambitious, landmark franchise – one built on a completely original IP – with interconnected stories that traverse the globe. This is an amazing way to create a really diverse global community of storytellers, and make entertainment truly borderless.”
Sushant Sreeram, country director, Prime Video, India, added: “With ‘Citadel,’ we are building an interconnected universe that takes borderless entertainment up a notch. Each ‘Citadel’ series is locally created, produced and filmed in-region, and stars top talent, forming a distinct global franchise. We are thrilled to be a part of the global ‘Citadel’ universe and build this franchise together with an Indian instalment that is currently in production.”
Two episodes of “Citadel” will stream from April 28 with one episode rolling out weekly through May 26.
