Citadel is Amazon Prime Video’s latest action-packed series and one of the most-expensive television shows ever produced.
The price tag shouldn’t come as a surprise; Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ talents take top billing while the likes of Stanley Tucci and Lesley Manville in the supporting cast.
(And let’s confess: we’ll gladly take any show with Stanley Tucci in the cast and Europe as the setting, no matter the production cost.)
Lucky for us, Citadel is a solid show in its own right and its jet-setting scenes around Europe has us wanting to scope them out for ourselves.
Declassified: Everything You Need to Know About the Amazon Original Series Citadel
What is Citadel on Amazon Prime Video about?
Mason Kane lives a quiet family life with no memory of his days as a secret agent for Citadel, an independent global spy agency. The former spy (played by Richard Madden) and his partner Nadia Sinh (played by Priyanka Chopra Jonas) were presumed dead eight years prior when they were ambushed by operatives of a powerful syndicate called Manticore. Citadel follows the two spies as they’re dragged back into the world of espionage to stop Manticore while fighting to restore their own memories.
How much did each episode of Citadel cost?
Each episode of Amazon’s Citadel cost a whopping $50 million. That’s right: $50m per episode. Game of Thrones reached $15m per episode in its final season and Strange Things is only shelling out $30m. Even the MCU and Star Wars offerings on Disney+ fall between $10m and $25m per episode. The only series that cost more per episode than Citadel is another Amazon Original series, Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, at an insane $58m per episode.
Why was Citadel so expensive to make?
There’s a reason Citadel cost a pretty penny: it’s not meant to be a one-and-done series. Though $300m sounds like an insane amount of money for 6 episodes, Amazon aims to turn Citadel into a long-term franchise, with multiple seasons and spin-offs planned.
Will there be a season two of Citadel?
No longer classified: season two of Citadel was renewed in March 2023, a month before it premiered on Amazon Prime Video.
Does the train from Citadel exist?
Nope! But as with so many of fiction’s wonderful worlds, the Italian train mission in Citadel’s opening scene was inspired by the GoldenPass trains in Switzerland. The Golden Pass Railway follows a three-hour route from Montreux to Lucerne, offering indescribable views of central Switzerland.
Where was Amazon’s Citadel Filmed?
Hoping to visit the real filming locations for Amazon Prime Video’s Citadel? Find your way to these scene settings via train.
Kensington Gardens/Royal Albert Hall, London, England
Closest Station: South Kensington | Lancaster Gate
Kane and Sinh had a rather tense encounter in Kensington Gardens, but your visit should be much smoother. See Royal Albert Hall, Hyde Park, Tate Modern, and other London landmarks seen in the show with ease via the London Underground.
Mountbatten House, Basingstoke, England
Closest station: Basingstoke
Though the building was fictionalized as a hospital, the Mountbatten House is an office building in real life. That doesn’t make its landscaped terraces, nicknamed “the Hanging Gardens of Basingstoke” any less serene.
Harlaxton Manor, Harlaxton, England
Closest station: Grantham
Harlaxton Manor in Lincolnshire played host to various interior scenes in Citadel and we’d be remiss if we didn’t say that the exterior of this Victorian country house was just as stunning.
Kobarid/Bovec, Slovenia
Closest Station: Podmelec
The Julian Alps get their fifteen minutes of fame with the Stol and Kanin mountains soaking up the limelight. Use your Eurail pass to get across the Italian border into Slovenia, where Triglavski National Park has even more natural beauty that Citadel didn’t show.
Old Town/Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, Valencia, Spain
Closest station: Estació del Nord
Consider Citadel to be a great example of why you should visit Valencia. From the City of Arts and Sciences museum to Old Town and more, the series has just enough scenes set in Valencia to leave any globetrotter wanting more.
Morocco
Closest Station: Algeciras, Spain
A handful of Moroccan landmarks appear in the series as Mason and Nadia head to a Manticore black site. While our trains don’t cross the Strait of Gibraltar, we can get you close! Take the train from any major Spanish hub to Algeciras then board a quick ferry to Morocco.
Download the Trainline app before you travel and we’ll be on-call to help you through your journey if you happen to get your mind wiped in Italy, too.