Richard Madden has never seen anything like his new spy drama Citadel

Game of Thrones veteran Richard Madden is on a new show: Citadel, a splashy spy drama on Amazon. Madden is Mason Kane, a superspy who shares a smoldering sexual tension with fellow spy Nadia Sinh (Priyanka Chopra). Together, they must take a shadowy organization bent on world domination, and they have $300 million of Amazon’s dollars to help them look stylish while doing it.

Yes, this is another hugely expensive series from Amazon Studios; critics have already drawn comparisons to The Rings of Power, another lavishly pricey show from the studio. The first two episodes of Citadel are out right now, so you can decide for yourself if it’s money well spent.

As for Madden, he’s having a ball acting with Chopra and under executive producers Joe and Anthony Russo, the guys behind the most recent Avengers movies. “I have never seen anything that pushes the action element as much as it pushes the drama,” Madden told Indian Express. “Not only that, it also tries to incorporate and entangle them together. We have worked hard in getting your hearts racing in huge action sequences and to have the same feeling watching two people sitting across the table.”

"It’s really difficult to do but that’s what brilliant about the Russo brothers, who are the ones to set the tone, give this new feeling to a show. As an actor, it was great for me because we get to have fun, do action and to push yourself in the drama world. It taps into everything and dials up each part with each episode."

Citadel also has planned spinoffs set in India and Italy; the spinoffs will be in those languages. This is an attempt by Amazon to build a global brand. Critics are split on the series, but only you can determine if it’s successful.

Richard Madden remembers playing Robb Stark on Game of Thrones

This isn’t Madden’s first time working on a hugely successful show. Game of Thrones fans will always remember him as Robb Stark, the ill-fated King in the North.

Of course, Madden remembers that role as well. “It was an exciting opportunity for me to engage with 30 hours’ worth of TV,” he said. “As an actor, to take a character and play it over the course of five years, was a new thing for me. Then to take six months away from it and to watch it back and then go back to the storytelling again, as an artiste that was a fascinating process for me. To take these breaks between seasons and to think, ‘What can I bring to the character now that will surprise people?’ But I am under pressure all the time, it never ends! I think that’s what keeps me on my toes.”

New episodes of Citadel drop Fridays on Amazon Prime Video. We’ll see if Madden has another super-hit on his hands.

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