Citadel Season 2 Is Coming, Because Amazon Spent Too Much Money On This Bad Show To Give Up Now
Even before "Citadel" debuted on Prime Video, it had already built the wrong kind of name for itself. While "Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" managed to balance headlines about its excessive and ludicrous budget with the promise of bringing audiences to the beloved Middle-earth, "Citadel" did not have much built-in anticipation for its world of story, but it did have a stupidly excessive budget.
Not only was "Citadel" already an expensive show, but there was reportedly behind-the-scenes drama between executive producers Joe & Anthony Russo (of "Avengers: Endgame" fame) and creators Josh Appelbaum & André Nemec (known for "Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol"). Unsurprisingly, the Russos prevailed, and the original creators, as well as director Brian Kirk, left the show, with reshoots driving the budget up to a whopping $300 million for its first season.
But is the show any good? Well, not really. In his review for /Film, Marshall Shaffer compared it (benevolently, I might add) to an AI-generated show, and said, "This is not television. It's a template that cannot deign to disguise profit opportunities as plot points."
Still, that hasn't stopped Prime Video from engaging in the good old sunk cost fallacy, as the streamer has officially announced that "Citadel" is coming back for a second season. Not only that, but a press release adds that Joe Russo will direct every single episode of season two.
Nowhere to go but up
Despite the poor reception to "Citadel" season one, Prime Video has reported that the show's first season has actually been hugely successful for them in terms of ratings. According to Prime Video themselves, "Citadel" had the second-largest launch in Prime Video history, conveniently just behind the most expensive show in history, "The Rings of Power." In the season 2 announcement, Prime Video also states that the show drew the "second largest international audience of any new series in Prime Video history."
This makes some sense, actually. The spy thriller about an independent global spy agency was originally announced as part of an international franchise, with spin-offs set in India and Italy already on the way. Having invested so much, not just in the show but in the larger franchise, it would make sense for Prime Video to at least see where this train goes for another season. After all, the "Fast and Furious" franchise has proven time and time again that international audiences care when stories feature diverse casts and global locations, so perhaps people are actually invested in the tale of Mason Kane (Richard Madden) and Nadia Sinh (Priyanka Chopra Jonas), and there is a huge hunger to see more.
The first season of "Citadel" is streaming on Prime Video now.