Prime Video shared the first full trailer for its new series, Citadel: Honey Bunny, at an event in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday. This series is a prequel to the big-budget 2023 show Citadel, which starred Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Richard Madden, Lesley Manville, and Stanley Tucci.
Honey Bunny comes just weeks after the launch of Citadel: Diana, the Italian version of the franchise, which the Russo brothers helped create. The show is set in the 1990s and is co-written and directed by the popular Indian filmmakers Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. It stars Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu in the main roles.
From the start, it is clear that this show will have a very different tone from what viewers saw in both Citadel, which took inspiration from the Mission: Impossible and James Bond films, and Citadel: Diana, which combined Italian gangster drama with the futuristic spy thrills of the franchise.
In Honey Bunny, both main characters work in the film industry. It is revealed that Dhawan’s character is a stuntperson leading a double life as a spy. Samantha’s character, who wants to be an actress, has a daughter named Nadia.
Nadia could be a younger version of Chopra Jonas’ character from the original show. Honey Bunny shows the early days of the secret Citadel organization, which works to keep world peace and fight against a rival group called Manticore. The internal issues of Manticore were discussed in Citadel: Diana, but that takes place in 2030.
A character played by veteran Bollywood actor Kay Kay Menon appears to guide Bunny and explains his mission. The trailer gives many quick looks at the action scenes created by Raj and D.K. Unlike the earlier shows in the franchise, this one has a more light and self-aware tone.
The action scenes, which were very detailed (and more computer-generated) in the first Citadel, look a bit rougher this time. It seems that Raj and D.K. have also created one of their signature single-take action scenes. This can be seen in a quick shot of Samantha’s character dealing with several goons inside a car, similar to a famous scene from The Raid 2.
Prime Video has big plans for the Citadel franchise
Raj and D.K., as they are professionally known, previously worked with Samantha on the second season of their Prime Video spy series The Family Man, which received a lot of praise a few years ago. They later created the crime comedy Farzi, another series in the Family Man universe.
This background makes them the perfect choice to take charge of the Indian spin-off of Citadel, which was announced to much excitement a few years back.
With the original series getting more attention for its troubled production than its quality, Prime Video hopes that Honey Bunny will improve things for the franchise. The show will premiere on November 7.
