Why Prime Video Canceled Citadel: Honey Bunny & Diana

Cinematic Universes are one of the hottest topics to debate on the Internet over the last half decade, largely due to the Marvel model consuming so many executives' imaginations over that span, and there are still folks out there trying to make fetch happen. But, what if an attempt at creating the next big pop culture obsession isn't an outright bomb and instead becomes a middle-of-the-road streaming success story? Well, that's exactly what happened to Amazon's "Citadel" and a huge reason why Prime Video opted to cancel "Citadel: Honey Bunny" and "Citadel: Diana."

"Citadel" was a massive undertaking for Prime Video, as they enlisted pop culture hitmakers Joe and Anthony Russo to design a sleek spy franchise for their streaming service, and there were lofty plans. Prime Video wanted the Russos to get a bunch of famous actors, like Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden, to take part in "Citadel" and then use the framing of different locations around the world to launch spinoffs for different territories, a plan that was already in motion by the time the first season of the flagship streaming series aired. Unfortunately, the story of "Citadel" would hit quite a few snags as the future seasons of "Citadel: Honey Bunny" and "Citadel: Diana" were cancelled due to their budgets.

However, all is not lost for "Citadel" fans, as the two spinoffs will find their stories wound back into the story of the second season of the main show, a move that probably has your eyes crossed in confusion as you're reading this piece, so there's more to come in 2026. Amazon MGM Studios' head of TV, Vernon Sanders, confirmed this in a statement to Variety earlier this year, and the move to push the spinoff stories back into the main plot is something that surprised a lot of fans, despite the original series being what attracted fans to the world in the first place.

Shows and movies on streamers getting cancelled for bloated budgets has become a recurring theme in the past couple of years, as various companies look to shed any weight they can in search of mythical infinite growth. Despite being owned by one of the biggest corporations on the planet, Prime Video is no different in that regard, and the fact that "Citadel" is reported to be the second-most expensive series of all time by Variety probably didn't help the spinoffs at all.

Take a look around at other decent to excellent TV series like "The Wheel of Time," and consider how Prime Video handled the cancellation because of budgets, to see what most of these streamers' priorities are when the bottom line comes into question. A show can be critically acclaimed and have gained an audience, but when things get a bit too rich for the studio's taste, you're out of there. It's a cutthroat approach to making art, and one we should come to expect as more of these outfits are owned by people who earned their pedigree in the C-suite rather than grinding in the Hollywood system.

Former Prime Video Originals head Jen Salke explained that the prickly situation of trying to make these massive series puts the producers in. "Creative conviction really rules the day, but you have to be right a lot, which is another Amazon principle," Salke began. "So if you got plenty of conviction and you're wrong all the time, I don't think we'd be sitting in our jobs very long. You could be wrong sometimes, though, because you want to embrace risk."

In essence, "Citadel" and similar series are going to be looked upon as one of those pandemic-related gambles that didn't pay off the way executives thought they would, because they're just a bit too expensive to put all of their weight behind. Look at how Disney is positioning things after the reportedly gargantuan budget of "Loki." Even though that Marvel TV show is well-regarded by both fans and critics, "Agatha All Along" cost a fraction of Tom Hiddleston's last appearance in the MCU, and got just as much love from all corners. The future of streaming seems to be with mostly smaller bets, and that will keep a lot of "Citadel"-scenarios from happening.

The wide tree of potential crossovers and spinoffs in "Cidatel" sounds like a good idea on paper, but once you get into the weeds of actually producing the show, that ambition ends up hampering the series. For example, the original "Citadel" had to reshoot a bunch of elements because of the high-profile stars involved and the story getting nudged a bit. One little choice creates multiple cracks in the dam, and you only have so many fingers to plug the holes before you can't hold back the flood of reality being kept at bay. Now, the main series will have to hope that the second season does gangbusters to ensure its own survival, much less worry about those two spinoffs.