One year later Prime Video and the Russo Brothers collaborated to bring these ambitions to fruition Citadel Franchise to life, the first spinoff is ready to premiere. Citadel: Diana. While 2023s Citadel Starring two actors well known in the US. it. (Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden), Citadel: Diana Branches out to Italy and features well-regarded European performers at the center of its history. It will soon be followed by another spinoff set in India, Citadel: Honey Bunnywhich focuses on the past.
Citadel: DianaThe title character is played by Matilda De Angelis, and the latest trailer introduces her as a Citadel recruit tasked with bringing down a crime family. In order to achieve her goal, which carries with it personal motivations, she must team up with the heir to Manticore (the rival organization introduced in Citadel Season 1). The show begins in 2030, and so will surely unlock clues about the fate of the Citadel after its fall in season 1.
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Screen Rant Interviewed two executive producers of the world of CitadelDavid Weil and Angela Russo-Otstot on what fans can expect about the upcoming spinoffs — especially the futuristic ones Citadel: Diana. The duo also hinted at their plans for the universe’s potential endgame, as well as whether they would be willing to explore the roots (or the rebuilding) of the infamous organization.
Citadel: Diana & Citadel: Honey Bunny are an opportunity to admire filmmakers around the world
“It is no coincidence that these exquisite filmmakers come from countries that have such a rich history in cinema.”
Screen Rant: I am immensely fascinated with how you are choosing to expand these Citadel Universe. We move forward in time with Artemis In Italy, and we go back in time with Honey Bunny In India. I’m curious, how did you choose the locations and time periods as the next chapters?
Angela Russo-Otstot: We started in terms of thinking about collaborators. We wanted this to be a global venture, and we had great support from Prime Video in embracing it as a truly global venture. We knew we would have to find partners who were as collaborative and open as we were because it would really require a heightened level of communication, openness and organization.
It started with the identification of Krishna DK, Raj Nidimoru and Sita R. Menon [for Honey Bunny] and Gina Gardini and [ITV Studios-owned] Cattleya [for Diana]Who were the filmmakers we admired. We loved their work, and we felt like they would be incredible partners and collaborators to us. This is what organically led us to Italy and India, and I think it is no coincidence that these exquisite filmmakers come from countries that have such a rich history in cinema. This is the first thing.
When it comes to the timelines, it’s really twofold. We look at the great story that David laid out in season 1, and you think about the characters and the interesting and complex challenges that they are faced with. It felt like there was a lot of rich and fertile territory to mine with Nadia as a child, knowing that her mother had also grown up as a spy. And it felt like there was a lot of rich territory to mine on the Manticore side of things, because that was just introduced but not fully dug into.
But then we also wanted to think of ways to not only surprise ourselves, but surprise audiences. The timelines that we’re sitting within really gave the filmmakers a chance to apply stylistic choices that they were excited by. We have a very sort of futuristic sci-fi bent in Diana, and then we have this grounded analog feel in Honey Bunny. I think that it gives audiences a good variety or diversity of experiences around.
Citadel has a lot of room for more timelines and season 2 could explore rebuilding the organization
“There are definitely resolutions we have in mind for certain character arcs…”
Screen Rant: Since these are different time periods, can the new stories continue on their own, or are they really standalone stories or chapters?
David Weil: They can go on. I think that’s the beauty of this rather large experiment that we’re doing with Citadel. We can go back and forward in time; We can learn new things about a character in the past that informs the future, or something in the future that we can see coming to fruition in the past. We are open to all.
Screen Rant: As the timeline potentially expands, and even at the beginning of the process, how far are you planning ahead and what locations might be focal points for the next stories we see?
David Weil: We are always dreaming, and what excites us is the incredible characters and the actors who come to play the characters. What Gina does with Diana and Cattaleya, and what DK, Raj and Sita do with Honey Bunny. If we fall in love with a character from their show, it inspires us, “Oh, can we take them here?”
We’re always thinking about these things, but right now we’re very excited to put these two shows out into the world and to work on season 2 of Citadel US.
Screen Rant: I have to ask, because it captures my imagination so much when they point to the beginning of the Citadel organization, could we ever see that? Or is that just too far in the past?
Angela Russo-Otstot: Oh, it would be so fun to see that. And of course, we are willing to embrace different timelines.
Screen Rant: It’s also fascinating to me that the entry point to Citadel is the destruction of this organization. When you started building the universe, did you have an endgame in mind for the spy-verse?
David Weil: Look, there are definitely resolutions that we have in mind for certain character arcs and ideas, but we also want to be very open. What’s so wonderful about this process is that it’s such an open collaboration, so we’re going to leave room for that stroke of inspiration or something that DK and Raj come up with that can then inform something for the grand design of the entire universe.
We definitely have a lot of things in mind, but we always want to be very flexible with what that might be.
Angela Russo-Otstot: I think something that excites us as filmmakers, and Anthony and Joe [Russo] Certainly subscribing to this ethos too, is that we want to surprise ourselves and surprise audiences. To your point, it felt like a very surprising place to start with the death of this organization. And then to David’s point, if we’re open about where we can go, it gives us room to continue to surprise ourselves.
Screen Rant: You’re on the creative side of this, but if you can step away from that as an observer and fan of the show, do you think the organization needs to be rebuilt to counter Manticore? Or is it what it is, and it’s focused on the characters?
Angela Russo-Otstot: I mean, that’s the big question.
David Weil: Watch Season 2.
Angela Russo-Otstot: We could explore that.
The Citadel Universe counts family as its beating heart
“It’s really this emotional and character-driven story about people who have to live as liars.”
Screen Rant: When I think of a Citadel Story, now I saw three that are ongoing, I think of the factions in the background and the use of time as a mechanic to tell the stories. And I think most of all about family and children. What would you subscribe to as the key elements?
David Weil: You laid it out so beautifully in the three ingredients. Yes, it’s perfect.
Angela Russo-Otstot: That’s really wonderful.
David Weil: The heartbeat is family. I think it’s really the emotional and character-driven story about people who have to live as liars. Spies have to live the lie, and so if you do, can you ever have a life of truth? Can you have a true love? How are you a parent in this kind of scenario? These are the conflicts that we are really excited to explore that, in this long-form narrative in the spy genre, we are able to do.
Screen Rant: Speaking of kids and family, are there any characters I can trust right now?
David Weil: The children, you can usually trust. Yes, they are the most honest.
Angela Russo-Otstot: It just depends on where they grow up, too. Because we see some children, and their future itself in the stories may not be trustworthy.
Screen Rant: In the coming weeks, we have the beginning of Citadel: Diana And then Honey Bunny. It’s a very exciting time. What are you most excited for fans to see when things launch?
David Weil: Oh my God. Everything.
Angela Russo-Otstot: The great work of Gina and Cattaleya, and of DK, Raj and Sita. Everything about them we have always admired and connected to, and we know so many others have too. We hope that even more people can come to witness what they are capable of as artists. I think they are all truly incredible.
We have so much respect for what they do. We’ve learned so much from each of them, and so this week has been a thrill for us because it’s really us saying, “Please see how awesome each of these people are at what they do and the teams they work with.” The level of execution in each of them is remarkable.
More about Citadel: Diana Season 1
Milan, 2030: Eight years ago, the independent global espionage agency Citadel was destroyed by the powerful enemy syndicate, Manticore. Since then, Diana Cavalieri (Matilda De Angelis), an undercover Citadel agent, is alone, trapped behind enemy lines like a mole in Manticore. When she finally sees a way and the opportunity to disappear forever, the only way to do it is to trust the most unexpected ally, Edo Zani (Lorenzo Cervasio), the heir of Manticore Italy and son of the head of the Italian organization, Ettore Zani (Maurizio Lombardi), who is fighting for leadership against the other European families.
Check out our others Citadel Interview here:
Source: Screen Rant Plus