The encyclopedia · Product & Design · Product decision · 2019–2025
Amazon built a $300M spy franchise, then cut both its local hit spinoffs
Citadel cost about $300M for one season and spawned Italian and Indian spinoffs; both were hits locally but Amazon cancelled them as standalone shows in 2025.
Amazon MGM Studios · 2025-04-16
What happened
Citadel, an Amazon MGM Studios spy thriller from the Russo Brothers, was reported to cost around $300 million for its first season alone, driven by multiple showrunner changes and extensive reshoots after a budget that started near $160 million. The franchise strategy, championed by then-studio head Jennifer Salke, extended the show into localized spinoffs: Citadel: Honey Bunny in India and Citadel: Diana in Italy.
Both spinoffs performed well in their local markets when they debuted in late 2024 — Honey Bunny became Prime Video's most-watched series worldwide during its opening weekend, and Diana was the platform's best-launching Italian original — but neither broke out globally the way the mothership series was meant to.
On April 16, 2025, Amazon MGM Studios head of television Vernon Sanders announced both spinoffs were cancelled as standalone series; their storylines would instead be folded into Season 2 of the mothership show, pushed to a Q2 2026 premiere. The cancellations came after Salke's departure from the studio.
Why it happened
- A single season's budget ballooning from $160M to $300M through showrunner turnover and reshoots left little room for the franchise-expansion bet to pay off before the studio reassessed.
- Local success for the spinoffs didn't answer the question the franchise was built to test: whether a global audience would follow the mothership story across markets.
- The strategy's main sponsor left the studio before the payoff arrived, and her successor cancelled the expansion rather than continuing to fund it.
The lesson
Regional hits inside a global franchise bet don't validate the bet if the mothership itself hasn't broken through yet.
Sources
- Variety — Citadel Spinoffs Honey Bunny and Diana Canceled at Prime Video
- Deadline — Citadel: Honey Bunny & Diana Canceled, Season 2 Premiere Window Set
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