Priyanka Chopra Jonas & Joe Russo talk about making Citadel stand out in the spy genre

I traveled to London last week to speak with Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Joe Russo about their latest project, the massively budgeted high-concept thriller series, Citadel.

The invite, from Amazon, was to meet with some of the cast and crew and come see the first half of the new series, premiering later this week. As a sucker for anything involving spies, exploding helicopters, and big globe-trotting espionage, I couldn’t refuse the opportunity.

Citadel is a big, showy adventure thriller about two spies, Mason Kane, and Nadia Sinh, who find themselves double-crossed and left for dead. Years later, they’re needed once again. But time has left wounds that can’t heal, and there’s more to fear than just the enemies they can see before them.

“It’s about duality. About who you are, and what about you and the person you are, is informed by circumstances and experiences. What stays with you? Who is it that you once were?” Priyanka Chopra Jonas says of her character, Nadia, at the start of the series.

The event itself was something to behold. Between the labyrinthine hallways of the Corinthia hotel, where the interviews took place, to the star-studded premiere at the Royal Opera Hall, this was an occasion as big as any film premiere in recent memory.

“We know that we’re competing for your attention with all the other things in your life,” Joe Russo says. “It’s our job to make a propulsive narrative that hooks you and propels you to the next episode at the end of it.”

This is Prime Video going big on an investment they see as an international franchise. The flagship series, simply titled Citadel, is the main draw. But its two spin-offs, already in production and set in India and Ireland, are no less intriguing. After all, what’s a global spy thriller if you can’t use the entire planet?

During our talk, we cover playing a spy with multiple identities and a fractured reality, pacing a streaming series, subverting genre tropes, and all the amazing fun you can have with the iconography in the process. Priyanka and Joe were great company, and I enjoyed every minute of our chat.

Look for my review of Citadel later this week. The series premiers on Prime Video on April 28th.