The thing about amnesiac spies is we don’t know how many of them there are, because none of them know for sure—it’s very hard to do a census. But there’s at least a couple more out there apart from Jason Bourne. And you can see them in action in Citadel, which hits Amazon Prime Video on April 28.
The sci-fi spy series stars Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden as Mason Kane (great action hero name, that), who suddenly starts remembering his life working for the extra-governmental, globe-spanning intelligence agency of the title: Citadel. Quickly tracking down another mind-wiped former agent, Nadia Sinh (Priyanka Chopra Jonas), he soon finds himself up to his armpits in intrigue and action. And we proceed from there.
This one comes to us from Marvel madmen Joe and Anthony Russo, who have also recruited Stanley Tucci, Lesley Manville, and Ashley Cummings to the cause. And they’ve got their work cut out for them because Manticore, the evil opposite number of nominal good guys Citadel, are brewing up some James Bond-style world-threatening plot, and the clock is ticking.
But what’s interesting here is that the six episode first season of Citadel is only one thread in the whole tapestry. A number of spin-off series are already in production around the world, and being shot in the local language. Italian and Indian Citadel series are already in the can, and Spanish and Mexican sidequels are in varying states of production, with more international spin-offs mooted. The idea, it seems, is to build a truly international action franchise.
That seems like a big swing, and we hope it connects. Judging by the trailer, Citadel is an ambitious, action-packed espionage thriller that eschews the grim ‘n’ gritty for a palpable sense of fun, even with doomsday rapidly approaching. Plus, they’ve got the Eurythmics on the trailer, which counts for a lot.
