Prime Video's new Citadel is as fittingly twisty as you'd expect for a blockbuster spy show — and then some, with each character having secret identities, hidden motivations and mysterious connections with other characters.
If you've watched all of Citadel and are struggling to get your head around all of the drama, we don't blame you, because there's a lot to unpack in just six episodes.
But in this guide we'll help you work out all the revelations from the show, so you're prepared for the confirmed second season of the show, as well as the spin-off Citadel: Diana which was teased in Citadel episode 6's ending credits.
*** Spoilers for Citadel season 1 follow ***
Who was the mole in Citadel?
The mole in Citadel, who ended up bringing down the titular spy agency, eventually turned out to be none other than Mason Kane.
Through most of the series, we were led to believe that Nadia Sinh was the mole — not only did most of the characters think that was the case, but she did have an unexplained several-month disappearance just before the agency fell.
But no, episode 6 shows us that Kane in fact was the spy. He leaked Citadel's secrets to his mother Dahlia Archer, under the pretense that she was going to start a government inquest into the agency's illicit actions. He didn't know that she actually worked for Manticore, and used the information to hunt down Citadel's agents instead.
What was Nadia Sinh's secret?
Nadia Sinh held a big secret during the many Citadel flashbacks we saw from before the agency fell, but unlike what we're initially hinted at, it's not that she was the spy.
Instead, it was that she was pregnant with the child of her and Mason Kane. Before Citadel fell she ran away to Valencia to have the child and nurture it, but eventually she left the kid in the custody of her dad to return to the agency.
Are Abby, Celeste and Brielle the same person?
Yes, confusingly.
In the present day, Abby Conroy is Mason's wife, and they have a child and house together in Wyoming. Both met at an amnesiac therapy group.
The fact that both these memory-wiped individuals is a lucky coincidence because they were also spies at the same time for Citadel, and Celeste is the name that this woman went under then. She didn't have a romantic relationship with Kane, and in fact they were hostile to one another.
Brielle is the name that Abby/Celeste went by during one important case, when she infiltrated the Silje brothers and their weapon-making scheme. So in the present day, lots of characters know her by that name too.
What happened to Bernard Orlick?
Stanley Tucci's Bernard Orlick was the tech-focused survivor of the agency, who pulled Mason Kane in from the cold. Although the character is present in the final episode, it's only in flashback scenes — so what actually happened to the guy?
The last present-day scene of Orlick was half way through episode 5, when he was still a captive with Dahlia Archer, and we never saw him escape or be released. Then at the end of episode 6, Archer blows up her house.
This would suggest that Orlick is dead, but it seems unlikely that Citadel would kill off a major character with that little fanfare, so he'll likely show back up in later seasons. For now, though, his fate is unknown.
His family also vanishes too — presumably they escaped Wyoming when the Conroy family did, but they don't show up in Utah when the Conroys are reunited with Kane.
Who is Dahlia Archer and The Families?
Dahlia Archer is the villain of the first season of Citadel — she works for rival intelligence agency Manticore, and has a particular interest in recovering Citadel's old assets.
Archer is also Kane's mother, who abandoned him when he was five, but made contact sometime in the years before the fall of Citadel.
It's implied that Archer isn't actually part of Manticore though, but a third party broker working on behalf of them. That's doubly the case near the end of the season when we're introduced to an organization cryptically referred to as The Families, whom Archer answers to.
The Families aren't explored in much detail, but presumably they'll be a bigger deal in Citadel's future seasons. They could be the families that are in charge of Manticore, or maybe a separate entity that Archer was betraying Manticore for.
Does Citadel set up the spin-offs?
As well as the main series of Citadel, multiple spin-offs have been announced: ones based in Italy, India, Spain and Mexico.
Citadel seems to lay the groundwork for one of those, the Spanish spin-off. That's because lots of the action of the show takes place in Valencia, where Sinh lived both after giving birth, and once Citadel fell. It's also shown that her father was a spy too, which potentially introduces us to characters in this spin-off.
We're also introduced to some characters and villains in Morocco, which is very close to Spain geographically, and these characters could also show up in a Spanish spin-off.
A teaser at the end of Citadel episode 6 also tees up Citadel: Diana, the first of the spin-offs, and this is the Italian version. Starring Matilda De Angelis, this was shot and filmed around Italy and Switzerland.
Beyond the teaser, Citadel's final episode doesn't tee up Diana in any noticeable way, however the events of the season could play a bearing on it, and we might see familiar characters show up. Maybe we'll find out where Orlick ended up!
