Citadel 2 review: Priyanka Chopra-Kishore Kumar crossover is most striking flourish of this flashy series

Los AngelesMay 7, 2026 06:27 PM IST Citadel season 2 review: Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden's follow-up is a step above season 1.Citadel season 2 review: Joe Russo took matters into his hands with season 2 of Citadel by helming all the episodes. One half of the directors of Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, he tries to recreate the template that made all these blockbusters emotionally resonant — balancing scale and slickness with emotion and gravitas. The second instalment is certainly a step above the forgettable first season, but it still has the emotional depth of a video game. Citadel season 2 starts exactly where the first part left us — Stanley Tucci’s top spy Bernard Orlick whips up a quick recap to get us up to speed with the events of season 1. After watching him tied to a chair for most part, it’s a relief to see him go all Jason Statham and get his hands dirty with some solid action. Fresh off The Devil Wears Prada 2, it’s all the more rewarding to see him burn the benevolent bad guy with a snarky barb, “The nobility in this room is so thick you can cut it with a plastic spoon.” Hey Russos, bring him back into the MCU already! Stanley Tucci in Citadel season 2.Speaking of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Russo lends a subtle touch of universe-building to season 2 with a hat tip to Raj & DK’s 2024 prequel Citadel: Honey Bunny. Honey pops up for a cameo (no, not Samantha Ruth Prabhu, but Honey as she would be in her 50s) for a sassy exchange with her daughter Nadia (Priyanka Chopra), who’s now a mother to a 10-year-old herself. Her equation with her daughter Asha mirrors that of hers with her mother, whom Asha describes as “the woman from the movies”. Having been thrown into the rabbit hole of espionage from an early age thanks to her mother, Nadia doesn’t want her daughter to go down the same path. But after an averted intrusion, when Asha tells her, “I’ll kill her the next time if you teach me how to,” Nadia can’t help but mourn the death of innocence in her child like she once did in herself. A couple of scenes later arrives the seven-episode series’ most (and probably the only) moving moment. Nadia tells her daughter that she used to sing Kishore Kumar’s classic gem “Aa Chalke Tujhe” when she was younger in order to manifest more love in her life. “But nobody was listening to me,” says a heartbroken Nadia, as Asha responds, “I was listening,” and goes on to hum the song with her, as Nadia weeps. That moment not only offers a rare emotional insight into her character who’s otherwise only growling and unleashing herself. It also offers a fleeting reminder of Priyanka Chopra’s range that the Indian audience is well familiar with, but the international audience is still sleeping on. Priyanka Chopra reprises her role of Nadia in Citadel season 2.Irrespective of how consistent and pathbreaking Priyanka’s rise to global stardom is, one can’t deny that exhaustion has started to set in watching her play similar characters in one film after another. Honestly, it was more of a kick to see her save John Cena and Idris Elba’s in Heads of State last year than watch her play a protective mother with a dark past and a star-crossed ex-lover in The Bluff and Citadel season 2 within a span of just three months. She brings her A-game yet again, but one wishes she’s given more to chew on in her next one. Because Citadel has very little room for poise and profundity. Another, less effective motherhood storyline runs parallel to that of Nadia and Asha — between Mason Kane (Richard Madden) and his mother Dahlia Archer (Lesley Manville). But besides Lesley’s cold stares and icicle-sharp jibes, there’s little that works in that dynamic. The imaginary burning body of Kane’s father walking across the room at multiple points doesn’t move as much a minor facial muscle. Nor does the love triangle between him, Nadia, and his second wife Abby (Ashleigh Cummings). This convenient traves