‘Citadel: Honey Bunny’ ending explained — What happens to Honey and Bunny?

Citadel: Honey Bunny is an Indian spinoff and prequel series of the international mothership series Citadel (2023–). Like the original, it pulls you into a high-stakes world of espionage and intrigue. Developed by Sita R. Menon and the Russo brothers (Joe and Anthony Russo) and directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K., better known as Raj & DK, this action-packed series delivers a familiar mix of adrenaline-fuelled stunts, deep-seated secrets and a story that is both explosive and emotional across its six episodes. Here’s Citadel: Honey Bunny and its ending explained as well as its cast, trailer, release date and more.

The show features Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu in the lead and titular roles of Honey and Bunny, respectively. It is set across two distinct timelines (one in 1992 and one in 2000) and follows a stuntman called Bunny (Dhawan) who is also secretly an agent of a spy agency and Honey (Prabhu), who is a young actress who wishes to make it big in the film industry but is struggling.

Also in the mix is Honey and Bunny’s daughter Nadia (Kashvi Majmundar), who grows into the character of Priyanka Chopra in the original Citadel. Also starring Richard Madden, Stanley Tucci, Lesley Manville, Ashleigh Cummings and others, Citadel introduced the two rival and independent spy agencies, one called Citadel and one called Manticore. While Citadel fights to preserve the safety and security of humanity, Manticore is a criminal syndicate that manipulates events from the shadows. The original series serves as the anchor for all the spinoffs and world-building.

Citadel: Honey Bunny ending explained: Unpacking the twists, turns and emotional highs

If you love fast-paced spy-thriller shows, Citadel: Honey Bunny will be right up your alley. It has everything you would wish for. It is as evocative as it is pulse-pounding, delivering everything from heart-stopping chases to heartfelt moments. It helps that it has a powerhouse supporting cast, including names like the veteran actor Kay Kay Menon (who played Indian Sherlock Holmes in Shekhar Home, released in August), Sikandar Kher and Simran Bagga.

Citadel: Honey Bunny’s story kicks in motion when Bunny, seeing Honey’s hopelessness, recruits her for a covert mission. What begins as a partnership soon spirals into dangerous webs of deceit and betrayal as their mission gets out of control and both find themselves in a world that is much bigger than themselves.

Fast forward to the year 2000, when Honey is now a single mother with young Nadia, and Bunny, seemingly lost to her past, returns as a hardened agent with secrets of his own. But as enemies close in and past choices catch up to them, Honey and Bunny will have to come back together for the sake of their daughter, pushing them to their breaking point as they fight to survive and for their family.

What happens in Citadel: Honey Bunny?

Now, let’s dig a little deeper into the show’s plot. In Citadel: Honey Bunny, as mentioned earlier, Bunny convinces Honey to help him in a covert mission for his agency along with fellow agents Chacko (Shivankit Singh Parihar) and Ludo (Soham Majumdar). It is a honeytrap mission and Honey, being an actor, does it convincingly even as she suffers a little bit of beating when the mission goes slightly wrong (when the man realises she is not a woman who had an angry public spat with her boyfriend). Even so, she is a natural and appears to enjoy the work.

The agency, Bunny works for is called Foundation, which stands in opposition to Citadel, and it is run by Baba (or Vishwa; he goes by many names) played by Menon. To recruit his agents, Baba collects a few boys from an orphanage and trains them in combat and espionage. In return, the boys and the men they become bear unfailing loyalty to Baba and his mission. We see Baba interacting with other men and women like him across the world. And so he may or may not be a member of Manticore’s Indian chapter.

His aim is to acquire the Armada, a MacGuffin device that will enable the user to track the movements and communications (pretty much everything about them) of any person and entity in the world.

The (failed) quest for Armada

Currently, before the series’ events, it is in possession of a certain Dr Raghu (Thalaivaasal Vijay) who is in the Serbian capital Belgrade an event and is meeting a man called Pavel (Izudin Bajrovic). Honey is sent to acquire the device by Bunny, who believes she is fit for field jobs. But Honey has a quality that eludes most spies and agents: conscience. She is also not used to unquestionably follow orders. Even before this specific mission, she had had doubts about the Foundation and Baba in particular. Making his misogyny clear, Baba said he did not trust women and barred Honey from field missions at one point. Honey is the only female agent in the agency. She is only part of the agency because Bunny trusts her. In fact, they have fallen in love with each other (which is why Nadia exists).

Anyhoo, Honey befriends Dr Raghu and dangling authentic South Indian food as a lure in a restaurant that is distinctly not South Indian, she manages to steal the device. However, she falls sick and it turns out, she is pregnant with her and Bunny’s child. It was Raghu who brought her to the hospital and has been caring for her. Oh, and he does not look like a dangerous man involved with this world’s version of the Illuminati as the Foundation suggested.

Honey defects to Citadel, who she learns are not the bad guys Baba said they were. The Indian chapter is headed by Zooni (Bagga) and her trusty lieutenant Shaan (Kher). Honey believes Zooni will destroy Baba and the Foundation. In a massive shootout between the Citadel and the Foundation, a hotheaded new joinee called KD (Saqib Saleem) shot at Honey. By now, Bunny knew she was pregnant with his baby. So he fired at KD. The shootout resulted in Baba, KD and others being captured by Citadel.

The birth of a super-spy: Nadia Sinh

In 2000, Honey disappeared from the public eye and is laying low in Nainital. We also learn that she is actually a princess and abandoned her royal heritage to get out of the shadow of her father (who is alluded to be an abuser). Nadia, Honey and Bunny’s child, is a little girl who has already trained in martial arts like karate and knows how to sniff danger. She and her mother, when apart, communicate using pager devices and code words. At 8, Nadia already knows more about spycraft than most of us. However, now KD and others are on the hunt for Nadia.

Remember I said Honey thought Zooni would destroy the Foundation? She doesn’t. In fact, she turns rogue against Citadel by Baba, who tells her that her husband (and probably Baba’s brother) was also planning to go rogue but was killed by Citadel (and not by Baba, as Zooni mistakenly believed; of course, according to Baba).

We learn that Honey still has the Armada, though she hinted that she had handed it to Citadel. But her cynical mind did not fully trust Citadel either and rightly so (read: Zooni’s treachery). When Bunny learns that KD and the Foundation are pursuing Honey, he gets into alert mode and regroups with old pals Chacko and Ludo to find Honey and learn the whole truth from her.

What happens in Citadel: Honey Bunny’s ending?

Eventually, Bunny meets Baba in an orphanage and finds him recruiting a new batch of would-be spies. He appears to give him the Armada but then destroys it, so Baba would not have any reason to harm Honey and his daughter. Baba is crestfallen and still urges KD to back off. However, KD is his own man now and accuses Baba of going weak. He makes his efforts to find Honey and Bunny more urgent. He gets into Chacko’s home, pretending to be his wife as one of his friends. We do not learn about their final fate, but knowing KD’s ruthlessness, it is safe to assume they are dead.

In the final episode, KD and his men attack Honey’s ancestral palace. A few excellently choreographed hallway fights ensue in which Honey and Bunny, finally fighting together as a team, finish off dozens of KD’s men. But Honey is shot in the belly, though she valiantly kills her assailant.

The fight is a chase where KD and his men pursue Honey, Bunny and Nadia. In the end, Bunny decides to stop and fight, giving Honey and Nadia enough time to get away. Bunny makes short work of KD’s men but KD himself is his match. They shoot each other and as they lie almost incapacitated, they discuss how they both defied Baba in different ways. Bunny informs KD about Baba’s cooking methods and deliberately burning chicken to test his pupils. Even his supposed “wife” which his charges called Maa was not his wife at all. In fact, they were different women. Bunny ruminates that it is likely KD met a different woman than him. And he is right. In the final scene, Bunny reaches his wife and child and looks at them. It is not clear whether he survives his wounds or not. This is another of the series’ loose ends that will hopefully be resolved in a potential season 2.

Citadel: Honey Bunny series review

Citadel: Honey Bunny is fast-moving and a true-blue spy suspense thriller that has all the intensity and adrenaline expected from such an action-packed series. There is little to no fat in the script, as the show puts everything into every scene for a tightly woven plot filled with plans within plans. Thanks to Raj & DK’s superb direction, the show truly absorbs the glamour of espionage, descending into the perilous double lives of its leads as they fight competing agencies and wrestle with betrayals and other spycraft genre staples.

Action scenes in the show are phenomenal, particularly during the climax when all hell broke loose during an excellently choreographed hallway fight scene. Though derivative, there are one-shot scenes that impress. Bunny’s finale showdown with his and Honey’s enemies combined with Honey’s fierce dedication to protecting their daughter, Nadia, leads to a satisfying finale. There are a few loose ends but Honey Bunny’s season 1 still makes for a thrilling, self-contained story. While Citadel disappointed me and Citadel: Diana made me hopeful about the franchise, Honey Bunny makes me excited about the direction of this overarching story.

Cast of Citadel: Honey Bunny

Apart from the lead actors Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Varun Dhawan, Citadel: Honey Bunny also features Kay Kay Menon, Simran, Sikandar Kher, Saqib Saleem, Soham Majumdar, Shivankit Singh Parihar and Thalaivaasal Vijay in the cast.

Citadel: Honey Bunny trailer

Here is a Citadel: Honey Bunny trailer:

Citadel: Honey Bunny release date

Citadel: Honey Bunny release date was 7 November, 2024.

Watch Citadel: Honey Bunny on Amazon Prime Video here.

(Hero and featured image: Courtesy of Prime Video)