‘Citadel: Honey Bunny’ Flips the Script on the Sexy-Spy Franchise

The word “Citadel” isn’t spoken until the very end of the fourth episode of Citadel: Honey Bunny, the latest entry in Prime Video’s attempt to will an international franchise into existence by any means necessary. It’s almost as if the new show — based in India, developed by Sita R Menon, and directed by the Indian filmmaker duo known as Raj & DK — is reluctant to embrace its own title, or at least to openly acknowledge its connection to the misbegotten first entry in the series, which debuted to scathing reviews and public indifference last year. This is a feature, not a bug. While one of the spinoff’s characters is a younger version of Nadia, the spy that Priyanka Chopra Jonas plays on the Citadel mothership, a viewer could watch Honey Bunny without knowing any other shows (including the recent Italy-set Citadel: Diana) exist, and have no difficulty following the plot.

More importantly, they’d probably enjoy the raucous, slickly entertaining Honey Bunny even more if they didn’t once have to think about whatever Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden were up to on the earlier series. It’s both a much better example of what original recipe Citadel was trying to do, and a franchise entry that for the most part manages to function independently of its siblings.

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