Citadel season 2 arrived on Amazon Prime Video without a hint of promotion. The stars did not talk about it before release, there was no grand premiere, and not even video bytes from the cast.
That silence was the story in itself. A colleague’s first reaction captured the surprise: “The new season of Citadel is here?” The show had been announced only two weeks before it was set to stream, then got a trailer with the date and, a week later, a poster from the official Instagram page that the cast reposted. A day before release, the Russos posted a “no spoiler please” message on Instagram.
The new run is a sharp contrast with the way Citadel was launched in 2023, when the spy thriller was billed as a $300-million global project backed by the Russos and fronted by Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden. The first season opened with premieres in four cities, including Mumbai, and Madden flew down to India for the launch. Chopra and Madden spoke to more than 100 mediapersons in Asia alone, and an equal number from Europe and North America.
Citadel itself has always been pitched as a high-concept spy thriller: Madden and Chopra play two secret agents who lose their memories after being attacked by members of a rival agency. But the first season did not fully land with critics or audiences. It drew mixed reviews, was criticized for pacing, and holds a Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 52%. Midway through production, original showrunners Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec departed over creative differences with the Russos, and the season was later marked by extensive reshoots.
That history helps explain the muted treatment of season 2. Priyanka Chopra denied there were any extensive reshoots for the new season, but Prime Video still took a very understated approach after the cancellations of the spinoffs Diana and Honey Bunny in 2024, which happened as season 2 was going into production. The result is a franchise that has gone from global splash to near silence, even as the new episodes are already live.
The answer to the surprise is simple: Citadel season 2 is not being sold like a launch, but it is available now, and all episodes are currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
