Citadel

A few days after its launch in April, Amazon Studios boss Jennifer Salke said it But the show failed to make the recent Nielsen streaming charts since its launch. Odetta Watkins, Head of Drama Series, Amazon Studios, backed up the show’s performance, calling it a “victory” for the streamer and revealed that the company has plans to develop similar global franchises, in other genres including YA and mystery. Related Story Kara Brown, Adele Lim & Elan Mastai Highlight Challenges For Writers - Banff Speaking on a panel at the She added that audiences in the U.S. can be “jaded”. The series, which comes from Josh Appelbaum, Bryan Oh and David Weil and is exec produced by the Russo Brothers, Watkins called it “bold” and that it will be a “door opened” for others looking to do the same thing. “[Jennifer Salke] wanted something that could speak to the world. The idea of franchise from its inception with different chapters around the world, I’ve never seen this before. It is the first of many to come,” she added.

Imagine for a moment that in the late 2000s, Marvel did not simply announce a movie about Iron Man, but that they would simultaneously go into production on Captain America, Thor, and Avengers films, with even more in immediate development, and that these would be among the most expensive movies ever made. In hindsight, Anthony Russo has said that Amazon exec Jen Salke approached the brothers with the idea of launching a big, multiseries spy franchise from scratch. Citadel is just one of many planned shows set in the same fictional universe, with Italian and Indian spinoffs already in the works, while others are in development. The plan is predicated on the idea that audiences will flock not only to this first series — despite a complete lack of the kind of familiar IP that Hollywood now assumes is required for any blockbuster(*) — but then also be eager for as many related shows as Amazon can make for them. And Amazon has bet big on the idea, Hunters creator David Weil— which would bring it in just behind Amazon’s Editor’s picks The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time (*) Iron Man wasn’t nearly as well-known as Spider-Man or the X-Men when the first movie came out, but at least some of the moviegoing audience was aware of him. There is so much presumption involved here than even a transcendent television show could likely justify. And unfortunately, Citadel falls far, far short of transcendence, or even goodness. It is bland, generic, and almost shockingly cheap-looking, gi...

When head of Amazon Studios Jen Salke came to Joe and Anthony Russo with an unusual idea for a TV show, they were intrigued by the potential to do something brand-new. Salke imagined an action spy show that was the first-ever global TV series, with a main show and then local offshoots around the world, starring local talent. It had never been done before, but that’s what the Russo brothers liked about it from the start. “Anthony and I have reached a point in our careers where the ambition is the compelling part of the approach for us,” Joe Russo tells Vanity Fair. “We’re looking for new ways to tell stories.” A guide to Hollywood’s biggest races Arrow Through their production company, AGBO, the Russos embarked on a years-long journey to bring Citadel to life. The Amazon series stars Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas as elite spies who work for Citadel, a spy organization that has no allegiance to any country. As seen in Vanity Fair’s exclusive first-look images, the high-concept, action-packed spy thriller is set after the fall of the spy organization, when the two agents must attempt to piece together what happened. One of the main problems: Their memories have been wiped. “This is secrets on steroids,” showrunner David Weil says. With standout supporting performances by Stanley Tucci and Lesley Manville, this ambitious new series will premiere its first two episodes on Prime Video on April 28. It’s a big, bold swing—and it’s actually just the beginning, with spin-...

At first glance, the Citadel had the green-light for a second season, with the series owing its renewal to its immense popularity among viewers worldwide. That's according to Amazon anyway, who said Citadel was the second most-watched Prime Video Original series ever globally, and the fourth most-streamed Original TV show in the US alone. Unfortunately, third-party data suggests Citadel wasn't the thrillingly successful TV show it was made out to be. Nielsen, a leading US-based analytics and market measurement firm, revealed that Citadel's first season didn't even crack its Top 10 streaming list – a monthly index of the most popular movies and TV shows – in May 2023. As the tweet below reveals (dated June 2), Citadel couldn't usurp the likes of kids TV show Bluey (on NCIS (on See more There are caveats to Nielsen's Top 10 streaming list, with the most notable one being that Nielsen only compiles data from US audiences. If it collated viewing figures from across the globe, it's possible that Citadel would have snuck into the list, especially with the amount of people who seemingly tuned in to watch it in the UK, Australia and other non-US nations. Even so, given Amazon's claim that Citadel is the fourth most-streamed Prime Video Original TV show of all-time in the US, you might have expected it to have break into Nielsen's Top 10 monthly list. Based on Nielsen's May 2023 round-up, which saw Better Call Saul rack up 673 million viewing minutes, Citadel clearly didn't break t...

The implication here is that at least in the US, an audience has not really picked up steam for the series. Unlike broadcast TV, we cannot fully see how viewership may be rising and falling week to week given that all this official data is private, but this would indicate it is probably…not going up. While these lists are usually dominated by Netflix series, given the market share of the service, Prime Video has previously charted for big hits like The Boys or Jack Reacher. Currently, the final season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is #6 on the “original streaming programs” list, while Citadel is nowhere to be found. Editor There was this idea that Amazon has pre-investing hundreds of millions of dollars in Citadel as a sprawling, international action franchise. But the showrunner has recently said that despite previous reporting season 2 was not a sure thing, and nothing has been officially announced about that. There is already one international spin-off about to arrive based on characters introduced in the main show, Citadel: Diana, which will be based in Italy. Several of these are planned, but it’s unclear just how many may make it to the finish line. Or whether Amazon will continue to throw money at the “Citadel universe” at all if it’s not performing. Amazon Prime Video has been in a weird place for a while now. The hits its found are often shows that came out of nowhere to blow up, Mrs. Maisel, Jack Reacher, The Boys. But lately it feels like Amazon, in order to try ...