# Citadel: Honey Bunny
**Citadel: Honey Bunny** is an Indian Hindi-language spy action thriller television series that premiered on Prime Video on November 7, 2024, in India and across more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.[1](https://www.aboutamazon.in/news/entertainment/citadel-honey-bunny-varun-dhawan-date) Created and directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. (together known as [Raj & DK](https://www.edgepedia.org/raj-and-dk)) and written with Sita R. Menon, it is a prequel and spin-off of the American series *[Citadel](https://www.edgepedia.org/citadel-tv-series)*, following the origins of that show's lead character Nadia Sinh through her parents, Honey and Bunny.[1](https://www.aboutamazon.in/news/entertainment/citadel-honey-bunny-varun-dhawan-date) • [2](https://www.comingsoon.net/guides/news/1874790-citadel-honey-bunny-diana-larger-universe-connection-setting)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Premiere | November 7, 2024, on Prime Video in India and more than 240 countries and territories[1](https://www.aboutamazon.in/news/entertainment/citadel-honey-bunny-varun-dhawan-date) |
| Creators | Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K., written with Sita R. Menon; produced by D2R Films and Amazon MGM Studios, executive produced by the Russo Brothers' AGBO[1](https://www.aboutamazon.in/news/entertainment/citadel-honey-bunny-varun-dhawan-date) |
| Leads | Varun Dhawan as Rahi "Bunny" Gambhir, a stuntman; Samantha Ruth Prabhu as Hanimandakini "Honey" Raj, a struggling actress[3](https://www.epguides.com/CitadelHoneyBunny/) |
| Setting | Two timelines, 1992 and 2000, in India and Europe[4](https://otakukart.com/citadel-honey-bunny-ending-explained-twists-tension-and-cliffhangers-unfold-in-season-one/) |
| Format | One season of six episodes, roughly 45 to 50 minutes each, in Hindi[3](https://www.epguides.com/CitadelHoneyBunny/) |
| Reception | 75% Tomatometer and 61% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes; 6.2/10 on IMDb[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/citadel_honey_bunny) • [6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27111295/ratings/) |
| Status | Cancelled after one season in April 2025, with its storylines folded into *Citadel* season 2[7](https://www.thewrap.com/citadel-spinoffs-honey-bunny-diana-canceled-amazon/) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and structure
The series tells a love story across two eras. In the 1990s timeline, Honey is a struggling actress in India who cannot pay her bills when Bunny, a successful stuntman, convinces her to help with one of his "side hustles," which draws both into espionage; sources place the action years at 1992.[8](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/citadel-honey-bunny) • [4](https://otakukart.com/citadel-honey-bunny-ending-explained-twists-tension-and-cliffhangers-unfold-in-season-one/) In the second timeline, set in 2000, Honey raises her young daughter Nadia alone while co-managing a café, and Bunny performs in a band in [Bucharest](https://www.edgepedia.org/bucharest).[8](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/citadel-honey-bunny) When the couple's dangerous past catches up with them, the estranged pair must reunite to protect their daughter.[9](https://www.aboutamazon.in/news/entertainment/citadel-honey-bunny-varun-dhawan-samantha-interview)
The narrative jumps between the two eras, a structure one parents' guide describes as occasionally disorienting, though its action sequences keep viewers engaged.[8](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/citadel-honey-bunny) A review in the Free Press Journal noted the story leaping from Nainital to Bombay and across Europe from Bucharest to Belgrade.[10](https://www.freepressjournal.in/entertainment/citadel-honey-bunny-review-varun-dhawan-and-samantha-ruth-prabhus-series-is-a-sparkless-spy-saga)
## Place in the Citadel universe
*Citadel: Honey Bunny* is the Indian installment of a planned multinational franchise built around the clandestine spy agency Citadel and its adversary syndicate [Manticore](https://www.edgepedia.org/manticore), conceived by executive producers Anthony and Joe Russo with [Angela Russo-Otstot](https://www.edgepedia.org/angela-russo-otstot) and Scott Nemes through their studio AGBO.[1](https://www.aboutamazon.in/news/entertainment/citadel-honey-bunny-varun-dhawan-date) Honey and Bunny are the parents of Agent Nadia, the character played by Priyanka Chopra Jonas in the original American series, and a young Nadia (Kashvi Majmundar) appears in the 2000 scenes.[2](https://www.comingsoon.net/guides/news/1874790-citadel-honey-bunny-diana-larger-universe-connection-setting)
Director Raj Nidimoru described joining the franchise as part of "a global effort, something that hasn't been done before, where they created a whole multiverse across the countries and different agents are going to pop up across the world."[2](https://www.comingsoon.net/guides/news/1874790-citadel-honey-bunny-diana-larger-universe-connection-setting) [The Italian](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-italian) spin-off *Citadel: Diana* premiered on October 10, 2024, about a month before the Indian series, and per ComingSoon's report has no direct connection with *Honey Bunny* or the original series.[2](https://www.comingsoon.net/guides/news/1874790-citadel-honey-bunny-diana-larger-universe-connection-setting)
## Cast and production
[Varun Dhawan](https://www.edgepedia.org/varun-dhawan) and [Samantha Ruth Prabhu](https://www.edgepedia.org/samantha-ruth-prabhu) lead the series, with [Kay Kay Menon](https://www.edgepedia.org/kay-kay-menon) as Guru Baba and an ensemble including Simran, Saqib Saleem, Sikandar Kher, Soham Majumdar, Shivankit Parihar, and Kashvi Majmundar.[1](https://www.aboutamazon.in/news/entertainment/citadel-honey-bunny-varun-dhawan-date) • [3](https://www.epguides.com/CitadelHoneyBunny/) The show marked Dhawan's streaming debut; he said the directors pitched it as a Jason Bourne-style project built on hand-to-hand combat rather than futuristic gadgets.[9](https://www.aboutamazon.in/news/entertainment/citadel-honey-bunny-varun-dhawan-samantha-interview) Samantha described Honey as an aspiring actress with a varied arc, moving from naive newcomer to fierce mother, and said she drew on her own early career as a struggling actress.[9](https://www.aboutamazon.in/news/entertainment/citadel-honey-bunny-varun-dhawan-samantha-interview)
Raj & DK, known for *The Family Man* and *Farzi*, said the collaboration with the Russo Brothers was their first with outside collaborators; Raj recalled meeting them in the United States for a conference-style read-through of the episodes and called them "very gracious and extremely collaborative."[11](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/citadel-honey-bunny-makers-raj-and-dk-on-collaborating-with-russo-brothers-they-were-very-gracious-and-extremely-collaborative-9489692/) In an interview with the Spanish newspaper *El País*, DK said the creators chose not to lean on Western film and television references, preferring to stay faithful to their own style.[12](https://elpais.com/television/2024-11-30/citadel-honey-bunny-un-vibrante-thriller-de-espias-con-sabor-y-color-a-bollywood.html)
## Reception and viewership
Critical response was mixed to positive. On Rotten Tomatoes the season holds a 75% Tomatometer from 16 reviews and a 61% Popcornmeter audience score, with a critics consensus calling it "a franchise standout with serviceable action sequences and convincing performances."[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/citadel_honey_bunny) IMDb users rate it 6.2/10 from about 9,500 ratings.[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27111295/ratings/) Positive reviews included Decider's Meghan O'Keefe, who called it "a hell of an entertaining ride," and Rolling Stone's Alan Sepinwall, who praised the storytelling competence; the [Hindustan Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/hindustan-times)' Abhimanyu Mathur found it better than the original *Citadel* but short of Raj & DK's own standards.[13](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/citadel_honey_bunny/s01) The Free Press Journal gave it three stars and called it a "sparkless" spy saga with a disjointed structure.[10](https://www.freepressjournal.in/entertainment/citadel-honey-bunny-review-varun-dhawan-and-samantha-ruth-prabhus-series-is-a-sparkless-spy-saga)
Prime Video reported strong global viewership: according to figures the company shared with *El País*, *Citadel: Honey Bunny* was the platform's most-watched content worldwide in the week of its November 7 premiere, placed among the ten most-watched titles in 150 countries, and reached number one in India and about thirty other countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Italy, and Brazil.[12](https://elpais.com/television/2024-11-30/citadel-honey-bunny-un-vibrante-thriller-de-espias-con-sabor-y-color-a-bollywood.html)
## Cancellation
In April 2025, [Amazon MGM Studios](https://www.edgepedia.org/amazon-mgm-studios) canceled both *Citadel: Honey Bunny* and *Citadel: Diana* after one season each. Vernon Sanders, the studio's head of television, said that "having successfully traversed India and Italy, storylines from both *Citadel: Honey Bunny* and *Citadel: Diana* will be woven into the upcoming second season of the mothership series *Citadel*," which was slated to premiere in the second quarter of 2026.[7](https://www.thewrap.com/citadel-spinoffs-honey-bunny-diana-canceled-amazon/)
## References
1. [Citadel: Honey Bunny to premiere on November 7 on Prime Video, About Amazon India](https://www.aboutamazon.in/news/entertainment/citadel-honey-bunny-varun-dhawan-date)
2. [Citadel: Honey Bunny Setting: How Is It Connected With Diana & the Original Series?, ComingSoon](https://www.comingsoon.net/guides/news/1874790-citadel-honey-bunny-diana-larger-universe-connection-setting)
3. [Citadel: Honey Bunny, Titles & Air Dates Guide, epguides.com](https://www.epguides.com/CitadelHoneyBunny/)
4. [Citadel: Honey Bunny Ending Explained, OtakuKart](https://otakukart.com/citadel-honey-bunny-ending-explained-twists-tension-and-cliffhangers-unfold-in-season-one/)
5. [Citadel: Honey Bunny, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/citadel_honey_bunny)
6. [Citadel: Honey Bunny Ratings, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27111295/ratings/)
7. [Amazon Cancels 'Citadel' Spinoffs 'Honey Bunny' and 'Diana', TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/citadel-spinoffs-honey-bunny-diana-canceled-amazon/)
8. [Citadel: Honey Bunny Parents' Guide, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/citadel-honey-bunny)
9. [Inside Prime Video's 'Citadel: Honey Bunny' with Varun Dhawan and Samantha, About Amazon India](https://www.aboutamazon.in/news/entertainment/citadel-honey-bunny-varun-dhawan-samantha-interview)
10. [Citadel: Honey Bunny Review, Free Press Journal](https://www.freepressjournal.in/entertainment/citadel-honey-bunny-review-varun-dhawan-and-samantha-ruth-prabhus-series-is-a-sparkless-spy-saga)
11. [Citadel Honey Bunny makers Raj and DK on collaborating with Russo Brothers, The Indian Express](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/citadel-honey-bunny-makers-raj-and-dk-on-collaborating-with-russo-brothers-they-were-very-gracious-and-extremely-collaborative-9489692/)
12. ['Citadel: Honey Bunny': un vibrante thriller de espías con sabor a Bollywood, El País](https://elpais.com/television/2024-11-30/citadel-honey-bunny-un-vibrante-thriller-de-espias-con-sabor-y-color-a-bollywood.html)
13. [Citadel: Honey Bunny: Season 1, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/citadel_honey_bunny/s01)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Web-native and streaming-original series › Indian and South Asian web series › Premiered 2021 to 2025*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license