EXCLUSIVE: Russo Brothers’ Action-Packed Spy Series ‘Citadel’ Adds Veteran Director Jessica Yu

The Russo Brothers (Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame) are behind a new action-packed spy series at Amazon Prime Video, called Citadel with a cast that consists of Richard Madden (Game of Thrones, Bodyguard, Eternals), Priyanka Chopra Jonas (The Matrix 4, The White Tiger, Quantico, We Can Be Heroes ), and Stanley Tucci (Spotlight, Captain America: The First Avenger, Road To Perdition, The King’s Man), Ashleigh Cummings, Roland Møller, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Susan Lynch, Sara Martins, Leo Woodall, Gráinne Good, Osy Ikhile, Caoilinn Springall, and Leo Ashizawa.

The Ronin can now confirm that seasoned director Jessica Yu is helming at least two episodes of Citadel. Yu’s varied television career includes credits such as In Treatment, Billions, This Is Us, American Crime, Fosse/Verdon, Ratched, Hollywood, The Affair, I’m Dying Up Here, Scandal, ER, Grey’s Anatomy, West Wing, and directed the pilot for Walker.

Jessica Yu is also an Oscar-winner earning a statue for Best Documentary Short in 1997 for Breathing Lessons, which was presented to her by Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones.

Joe and Anthony Russo are producing via their production company AGBO and are expected to direct episodes alongside fellow executive producer Brian Kirk (21 Bridges, Game of Thrones, Luther, Boardwalk Empire, Dexter). Josh Appelbaum (showrunner), André Nemec, Jeff Pinkner, and Scott Rosenberg of Midnight Radio serve as writers and executive producers.

Citadel is assumed to drop on Prime Video sometime in 2022.

The sibling pair is also working on The Gray Man, another high-profile spy project at Netflix, which is said to be budgeted at over $200 million, making it their most expensive production to date. The Gray Man’s impressive cast includes a heap of well-known names such as Ryan Gosling (The Nice Guys, Drive), Chris Evans (Snowpiercer), Ana de Armas (Knives Out, Blade Runner: 2049, No Time To Die), Rege-Jean Page (Bridgerton, Dungeons & Dragons), Jessica Henwick (The Matrix 4, Knives Out 2), Alfre Woodard (Luke Cage), Billy Bob Thorton (Fargo), Wagner Moura (Narcos), Deobia Oparei (Dredd, Game of Thrones, Independence Day: Resurgence), Robert Kazinsky (Pacific Rim), Dhanush, Scott Haze (Venom, Antlers), Callan Mulvey (The Outlaw King, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Batman v Superman), and Julia Butters (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, The Fabelmans).

FIRST LOOK: Kate Beckinsale Returns To R-Rated Action With ‘Crank’ Knock-Off ‘Jolt’ Releasing July 23 On Amazon

Yesterday, it was announced by Amazon that they had acquired the Millennium Films action movie Jolt, starring British actress Kate Beckinsale best known for playing Selene in the Underworld franchise. The film will be officially heading to Prime Video and releases on July 23.

Below is the official synopsis from Amazon.

Lindy is a beautiful, sardonically-funny woman with a painful secret: Due to a lifelong, rare neurological disorder, she experiences sporadic rage-filled, murderous impulses that can only be stopped when she shocks herself with a special electrode device. Unable to find love and connection in a world that fears her bizarre condition, she finally trusts a man long enough to fall in love, only to find him murdered the next day. Heartbroken and enraged, she embarks on a revenge-filled mission to find his killer, while also being pursued by the police as the crime’s prime suspect.

Jolt sounds like an obvious proxy to Jason Statham’s Crank films, but until we get a trailer we can’t be sure it’ll have a similar wacky tone as those films were satirical and a parody of exploitation films.

Directed by Tanya Wexler with a script penned by Scott Wascha. The impressive supporting cast joining Beckinsale in the R-rated action romp include Bobby Cannavale, Jai Courtney, Laverne Cox, David Bradley, Ori Pfeffer, Susan Sarandon, and Stanley Tucci as Lindy’s therapist.

They also released three images featuring Kate Beckinsale as her character Lindy.

It’s been a while since Kate tackled an action film with Underworld: Blood Wars in 2016 and her last high-profile project was the Amazon Prime Video original series The Widow.

Millennium Films is also behind the new Red Sonja remake from director and co-writer Joey Soloway that stars Hannah John-Kamen (Ant-Man & The Wasp, Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City) as the sword-wielding warrior with former Wonder Woman contender Jaimie Alexander (plays Lady Sif in Marvel’s Thor franchise) recently teasing a possible role. I’m sort of curious if Red Sonja will end up on Amazon.

Jolt hits Amazon on July 23.

SOURCE: AMAZON