Will the Stars of New Amazon Prime Thriller Series Citadel Make Good Spies in Real Life?
In the brand-new Amazon Prime thriller series Citadel, Priyanka Chopra-Jonas and Richard Madden star as Nadia Sinh and Mason Kane, who are agents of a global private spy agency called, yeup, Citaddel. Both agents survive an attack on a high-speed train somewhere in Italy and their memories of being spies are wiped clean. Eight years later, they’re living relatively normal lives in different corners of the world, unaware of their past lives, until they’re reunited with their former contact and thrust back into a dangerous and high-stakes world where nobody can be trusted.
Esquire Philippines caught up with both Chopra-Jonas and Madden during the world premiere of Citadel in Mumbai, India. We got the chance to chat with both stars ahead of the official release of the limited series on Amazon Prime on Friday, April 28.
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“Everyone loves a good spy show,” Chopra-Jonas said. “What is different about this show is there’s so much heart in it. Each character is connected to each other. It’s not just about infiltrating and doing spy stuff. It’s being able to create relationships between the characters, which makes for really good entertainment.”
“I went in to meet (producers) Joe and Anthony Russo, and they pitched the whole idea of this whole concept, these multiple characters and this global-spanning series,” Madden said. “It’s going to tie in with shows all over the world, and the stories will cross over and I was just blown away by with what this had the potential to be. And also that aspect of playing two characters but in one body was something fascinating. When your memories are gone, do you still have the same traits as the person? Are they learned or are they built? AS an actor that really drew me in to working on this project.”
For both actors, the opportunity to work with the Russo brothers, who are perhaps best known for directing the global blockbusters Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, was another reason to jump into the project.
“They are so fast,” Chopra Jonas said. “They don’t think small. Everything has to be bigger and better and new. I think AGBO (the production company headed by the Russo brothers and Mike Larocca who is a co-producer of the series) is at the forefront of a lot of innovation when it comes to entertainment. The stuff that they’re doing is very disruptive and clutter-breaking.”
Joining Chopra-Jonas in the cast are veterans Stanley Tucci and Lesley Manville.
“I love Stanley so much,” Madden said. “He’s just so brilliant. He’s such a way onscreen, especially in this show where we get to see him be pretty dark at points. And also comedic, and charming and we don’t know whether to trust him or not. He’s a real master of being able to put on all those different masks.
As for the question of how they’d fare as real-life spies, both actors had slightly different answers.
“I’d make a terrible spy,” Chopra-Jonas said. “People who know me know instantly if I’m lying. Lying is not my thing.”
“But I think the fact that we’re actors kind of help us because we’ve got good excuses to be in different countries, to be in embassies, to meet different people. So the actor element is a relly good cover for being a spy.”
Watch our exclusive interview with the stars in the clip below, and catch Citadel when it drops exclusively on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, April 28.
