It’s not exactly the global spy empire the Russo Brothers were envisioning.
Amazon has officially scrapped two of its Citadel spinoffs including Citadel: Honey Bunny (India) and Citadel: Diana (Italy), effectively pulling the plug on its ambitious plan to build a sprawling international franchise under one high-concept banner.
As confirmed by Deadline, neither spinoff will move forward with a second season, and the larger “Citadel Universe” that was once being hyped as the next big thing… well, it just quietly deflated.
Instead, Amazon plans to merge the remnants of those spinoffs into the mainline series. Vernon Sanders, head of television at Amazon MGM Studios, put a positive spin on the pivot:
“Having successfully traversed India and Italy, storylines from both Citadel: Honey Bunny and Citadel: Diana will be woven into the upcoming second season of the mothership series Citadel.
“While these successful and widely enjoyed international chapters will not continue as individual series, Season 2 of Citadel will be our most exhilarating yet.”
Sanders also teased a more action-packed return for the core show:
“With high-stakes storytelling, new additions to our amazing cast and bold, cinematic ambition, the new season will deepen the emotional journeys of Nadia, Mason and Orlick against the relentless force that is Manticore. We’re excited to share what’s next when Citadel Season 2 premieres globally in Q2 of 2026.”
That’s a notable delay. Season 2 was originally set for late 2025, but it’s now pushed back to mid-2026. It’s another bump in the road for a show that’s already taken its fair share of punches.
The first season of Citadel was plagued by production issues, multiple showrunners, competing edits, costly reshoots, and it ballooned into a $200 million gamble that never quite paid off. Ratings were decent. Reviews were lukewarm, but buzz didn’t stick.
And now, the spin-offs Amazon hoped would anchor an interconnected spyverse are reduced to narrative footnotes in the main show.
Here’s the official logline for Season 2:
“Season 2 is set one month after the events of the first season. In it, we find our Citadel spies underground, as they’re being hunted by Manticore agents around the world.
“They’re pulled out of hiding to join forces with a new team of unconventional spies when Manticore’s Brazilian billionaire Paulo Braga threatens to unleash a cataclysmic piece of technology, built by Citadel’s own Bernard Orlick, into the world.”
While the initial vision of this franchise was ambitious, but there’s no denying that this marks yet another blow for the Russo Brothers and their production company AGBO.
After The Gray Man and Cherry were critically panned, and Netflix’sThe Electric State was a crap film, Citadel has become a case study in how big budgets and big names don’t always translate to success.
There’s still talk of a potential Citadel series set in Mexico down the road, but for now, the international expansion is on ice.
Credit:Source link