Citadel – Season One [2023] on Prime Video

Citadel left me in disbelief. And not the good kind. An overpriced and overextended pilot with impressive stars and a high budget that goes nowhere.

How can you fumble a series this bad when you have stars like Richard Madden, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Stanley Tucci in your cast? The answer is easy: Citadel.

The show is an overengineered business case that should have been rejected. But Amazon’s need for franchises resulted in a soulless and pointless show that cost too much money for 6 episodes to go nowhere when it could have been much better as an hour and a half action movie.

Let’s be honest. Amazon knew what they were doing pushing the whole “Russo Brothers”. But what baffles me is that the new owner of the James Bond franchise (Amazon bought MGM who owns the Bond franchise) has no idea how to build a global franchise. They built a global business, and with Citadel, it’s obvious that they’re approaching streaming the wrong way.

Business decisions aside, the show lacks any creativity. The story is “expected” to say the least, but the weird time jumps make it much more confusing. Instead of having a real plot or twist, the show uses time jumps to confuse us, the viewers, and then try to fill it back.

Should you watch it?

Since it’s clear that we’re getting more Citadel in 2024, the producers need to make sure to do the opposite of whatever they did here if they want the franchise to have a chance.

Where can I watch it?

You can stream season one of Citadel exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.