Amazon is spending over $200 million on the Russo Bros. Citadel series. due to costly rework

The seven-episode series was estimated at around $160 million, but the budget bloated with around $75 million in reshoots. The timing of the massive budget is particularly alarming considering that the first season of "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" cost an estimated $465 million. Not that Amazon is hurting money or anything given that Jeff Bezos is making over $2,537 per second, but it's still a huge change to invest in a series that may or may not see a return. on investment.

THR reports that "Citadel" was an exciting project for Jennifer Salke, the head of Amazon Studios, who believed deeply in the concept of a spy series featuring different characters from different countries s uniting to accomplish the ultimate mission. If it sounds like "The Avengers" but with spies, that's because it was on purpose. Unfortunately, with the Russos busy with "The Gray Man" and Amazon less than thrilled with some of the early footage, creative conflicts arose, leading to showrunner Josh Appelbaum leaving the project in addition to veteran director Brian Kirk (" Game of Thrones", "Penny Dreadful"), who directed five of the seven episodes, as well as executive producer Sarah Bradshaw.

David Weil of "Hunters" fame was brought in to rewrite the series, and Thomas Sigel took over directing the reshoots. "Citadel" is currently in post-production and no expected release date has been announced.