Richard Madden calls Priyanka Chopra best 'dancing partner', reveals she helped him navigate 'confusing' Citadel shoot

Citadel, the upcoming sci-fi thriller from the stable of the Russo Brothers, is a twisted drama with multiple layers and parts where characters often end up questioning their realities. Naturally, while shooting a plot that jumps back and forth with twists and turns, the actors were on their toes as well. And as they admit, a lot of the times they were as confused as their characters. Recently, speaking to the media, the show’s stars Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden revealed how they helped each other navigate such confusing days.

Richard and Priyanka were recently in Mumbai, kickstarting the show’s global press tour with the Asia-Pacific press conference. At the event, when asked how tough it was to navigate the show’s confusing plot while shooting, Richard said, “In a police drama, they have pins on charts and strings between them. That was our trailers and dressing room, just trying to work out how do we tie these stories together. In most of the scenes, we are keeping each other in check, comparing notes, asking ‘what character are you now? What do you know?’ It’s a complicated process but in the end, it makes it very clear on the screen. But there were a lot of very confusing days!”

Priyanka added that they had to constantly help each other out in charting their character’s plot lines when on set. “We had to come in every day and check in with each other what our characters knew. This show is like a duck. Above the water, it is swimming beautifully but underneath, it is paddling furiously. You look at it and it looks beautiful but you don’t know what all it took,” the actress said.

In Citadel, Richard and Priyanka play Mason Kane and Nadia Sinh respectively. Their characters are the top spies of Citadel, a shadowy international spy organisation. On the show, their characters are partners who have each other’s backs, even while fighting. While describing their opening fighting sequence as a ‘dance’, Richard said, “In many ways, like the characters of the show, we balance each other out beautifully and bring out the best in each other. I couldn’t ask for a better dancing partner.” Priyanka added, “We protect each other and have each other’s backs. That’s nice to know that we are not trying to trip each other up.”

Citadel, created by David Weil and executive produced by the Russos, also stars Stanley Tucci and Lesley Manville. The first two episodes of the 6-episode show premiere on Prime Video from April 28 with the remaining releasing weekly, every Friday.