When it was first announced, Prime Video’s blockbuster spy series Citadel was set to cost $20 million per episode, which is a fair chunk of change for a six-episode show even in the age of inordinately expensive streaming content.
And yet, thanks to massive behind the scenes changes – that included a brand new showrunner and extensive reshoots – Amazon racked up a $300 million tab for an episodic exclusive that couldn’t even land a spot among the most-watched on-demand originals throughout its entire run.
Plowing ahead regardless, there’s a second season and at least two spin-offs on the way, but a curious report from Bloomberg notes that executive producers Joe and Anthony Russo indulged in a little subterfuge of their own by commissioning an entirely different cut of Citadel that helped push up the budget.
The Avengers: Endgame directors reportedly disagreed with writer Josh Appelbaum about the tone of the project, leading to the Marvel veterans setting up a competing post-production office in Los Angeles where they cobbled together their own spin on Citadel, which they then submitted to Amazon without informing the entire team.
Both editions tested, and focus groups sided with the Russos, which then snowballed into Hunters creator David Weil being brought on board to wrangle the additional photography into something that more closely resembled Joe and Anthony’s ideas. There was no way Citadel didn’t go off without a hitch looking at the cost, but driving the budget up significantly by way of a decision that wasn’t vetted or approved by all of the key creative team might explain why the end product was such a jumbled mess.
