Amazon Prime’s spy thriller series Citadel starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden is the second most expensive series to make.
The six-episode first season cost $300 million to make. That’s $50 million per episode.
Reportedly, the series is a big passion project for the Head of Amazon Studios, Jennifer Salke.
Part of the reason for the inflated cost is the fact that the series was renewed for a second season before the first season dropped.
Prime Video is looking to expand Citadel into a franchise with spin-offs.
Other factors also drove the cost up, including the break in production for the pandemic, calling the actors and crew back to begin shooting again and the high cost of COVID 19 protocols that was not factored in when the series was greenlit.
Priyanka also fought for equal pay with her male co-star Madden – something she’s never had before in her nearly 20 year career.
“If your contribution, time and what you bring to the table is the same as your male counterpart, there is a very serious conversation to be had about compensation,” she told reporters.
“It was not a conversation I was encouraged to have for a very long time because it was just a given when I started out in movies that your male counterpart would have a substantially larger pay check,” she continued.
“I think my generation of female actors really stood up for themselves,” she added.
The actress, who is married to Jonas Brother Nick Jonas, plays the character of Nadia Sinh.
The synopsis for the series reads, ‘The global spy agency Citadel has fallen and the memory of its agents has been erased. Now, the powerful Manticore crime syndicate is filling the power vacuum. Citadel agents must remember their past and find the strength to fight back.’
