Who Is ‘Citadel’s Traitor and What Does it Mean for Season 2?

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Season 1 of Citadel.

The first season of the Russo Brothers’ Citadel sets up an international spy franchise with multiple announced spinoffs. We are introduced to an underground spy agency that have apparently shaped every “good” event in history but are instantly wiped out in the first sequence due to insider information being leaked. From the very first episode, the series promptly poses the most timeless and quintessential question of the spy genre: who is the mole? In an agency filled with trained agents for whom lies come as natural as breathing, the candidates are supposed to be endless. We expect a constant guessing game throughout the season and prepare to be shocked in the final revelation. Instead, if you’re paying close attention and know the basics of the genre, it’s not difficult to discern who it is. In the end, the most intriguing part of this whole storyline isn’t really who the mole actually is — it’s what the ramifications for future seasons are.

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We begin the show with the end of the powerful spy agency Citadel. In a calculated train attack, the two protagonists of the series barely escape alive and are assumed dead. On top of that, the tech genius of Citadel, Bernard Orlick (Stanley Tucci), activates a chip implanted in their brains that wipes their memories. We follow Mason Kane (Richard Madden) as he is slowly initiated back into his life as a spy by Orlick and fights against agents of the evil Manticore organization for a case of nuclear codes. On the way we are introduced to his former partner Nadia Sinh (Priyanka Chopra Jonas), a previous coworker Spence (Osy Ikhile) and his new wife Abby/Celeste (Ashleigh Cummings) who used to be a Citadel agent herself. Alternating between flashbacks and the present, the series constantly misdirects us about the identity of the mole until the grand reveal in the finale.

Who is ‘Citadel’s Mole?

Since the majority of the Citadel agents are wiped out, there are only five real possibilities for the mole in the show, barring introducing a whole new character. These include Kane, Sinh, Spence, Celeste and Orlick. In the fourth episode flashback scenes, Kane raises his suspicions about Celeste being the mole. Apart from him simply saying she’s the mole instantly disqualifying her, her late introduction to the series and access to Tier One information also made it clear that she wasn’t, taking her off the list of candidates. Similarly, the last couple of episodes insistently framed Nadia as the double agent, even spy genre amateurs can spot this as a red herring. From present scenes of Orlick being interrogated by the Manticore agent Dahlia (Lesley Manville) and Spence’s time being tortured in a black site, it’s easy to assume they’re in the clear. So by the process of elimination, Kane is easily identified as the mole well before the finale.

The show essentially plays catch-up in the finale, revealing the mole as Kane as he regains his memories. However, we do learn that Kane is in fact the son of a Manticore agent, Dahlia. In a flashback scene we discover that Citadel had been involved in a cover-up when Kane was still a child. Citadel had accidentally sent an air missile to the wrong coordinates, taking 157 innocent civilian lives including that of Dahlia’s husband — Kane’s father. Prior to this, Kane believed that his father had passed away in a terrorist bombing and was shocked to learn that Citadel was responsible. After Nadia’s disappearance, Kane was particularly susceptible to Dahlia’s argument that “Citadel takes people you love and suffers zero consequences,” leading to him sharing secret files and information with her in the effort to take down Citadel. As such, Kane was responsible for Citadel’s downfall as Dahlia uses the given information to eliminate every Citadel agent and facility in one elaborate plan.

What Does This Mean for ‘Citadel’ Season 2?

Even though the identity of the mole was fairly predictable, the implications of it set up a premise for Season 2 that is far more engaging and complex. Throughout this first season, Kane is a fairly bland character, which makes sense considering his memory being wiped makes his personality a blank slate, and he’s mainly just confused the entire season. Now that his memories have returned, not only will we be able to experience the full force of the arrogant and manipulative personality that the flashbacks hinted at, but also the new complexities that are inherent in the relationships. With so many unanswered questions in the series, like how Kane is going to react to his previous relationship with Nadia, what he did to his current wife and his role as a mole, the second season should finally tackle conflicts that were originally hidden away. On the other hand, there is also a distinct possibility that he could end up switching sides and be portrayed as a villain, especially considering that alongside his memories, he has also acquired nuclear codes.

The finale also sets up a gray area that was basically nonexistent in the first season and that is also a hallmark to spy shows. The first season sets up a simplistic conflict and binary between the “good” Citadel and “evil” Manticore, completely neglecting moral ambiguities that make the spy genre more than action with fancy gadgets. It is only in the finale during Kane’s memory with Dahlia that disrupts this already established binary and questions Citadel’s influence. Even the fact that Kane, one of Citadel’s top agents, ends up agreeing to become a double agent probably suggests that there is more that meets the eye with both organizations. His motives for taking down Citadel seem to be based on emotion and ideology, further indicating that there is more to be uncovered about Citadel and their unbridled power. This finally allows the second season of the show to operate in the gray area — hopefully featuring decisions that challenge ethical certainties and interesting dynamics between agencies that are widely considered as good and evil.