Double Agents

Bond meets the MCU in the Russo brothers' spectacular spy saga Citadel. Ahead of the launch of the new series, Total Film rendezvouses with the Russos, stars Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden plus showrunner David Weil to uncover the secrets of a slick new franchise that's going global.

- By Kim Taylor-Foster

It’s not spoiling anything to say that the first episode of spy series Citadel opens with a disorientating shot, first framing a skyscape and then shifting perspective in one fluid motion to capture a train speeding through the Italian Alps – upside down.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned about espionage thrillers, it’s that you can’t trust anyone or anything, and Prime Video’s spy series suggest the instability of the world – and the duality of the characters – from the off.

Citadel is the brainchild of Joseph and Anthony Russo, the super-successful sibling filmmaking duo who directed four of the best Marvel Cinematic Universe entries (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame). Via their own production company, AGBO, they are also the backroom boys behind the Oscars-dominating, multiverse-jumping phenomenon Everything Everywhere All at Once, as well as action thrillers Extraction and The Gray Man, the latter of which they directed too.

These are all titles from which you can draw a straight line to Citadel. ‘What we find compelling about [Citadel] is the high concept at the core of the show, which is that the lead characters have their memories wiped,’ Joe Russo, one half of the multi-hyphenate fraternal twosome behind the show, tells Total Film.