''The Great'' (titled onscreen as ''The Great: An Occasionally True Story'' and later as ''The Great: An Almost Entirely Untrue Story'') is a

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

and

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

television series described by its commissioner

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

as "anti-historical" loosely based on the rise to power of

Catherine the Great , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...

, Empress of All Russia. All ten episodes of the first season were released on Hulu on May 15, 2020. The series stars Elle Fanning as Empress Catherine II and

Nicholas Hoult Nicholas Caradoc Hoult (born 7 December 1989) is an English actor. His List of roles and awards of Nicholas Hoult, body of work includes supporting work in big-budget mainstream productions and starring roles in Independent film, independent p ...

as Emperor

Peter III Peter III may refer to: Politics * Peter III of Bulgaria (ruled in 1072) * Peter III of Aragon (1239–1285) * Peter III of Arborea (died 1347) * Peter III Aaron (died 1467) * Pedro III of Kongo (ruler in 1669) * Peter III of Russia (1728–1762) * ...

. In July 2020, Hulu renewed the series for a second season which premiered on November 19, 2021. In January 2022, the series was renewed for a third season.

Premise

''The Great'' is a

and

about the rise of Catherine the Great from outsider to the longest-reigning female ruler in Russia's history. The series is fictionalized and portrays Catherine in her youth and marriage to Emperor Peter III of Russia, focusing on the plot to kill her depraved and dangerous husband.

Cast and characters

Main

* Elle Fanning as

Peter III of Russia Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

**Hoult also plays Yemelyan Pugachev (season 2–present) *

Phoebe Fox Phoebe Fox (born 16 April 1987) is an English actress, who was nominated for Olivier and Evening Standard awards for work in theatre. She has appeared in the ''Black Mirror'' episode " The Entire History of You" (2011), '' The Woman in Black: A ...

as Marial * Sacha Dhawan as Orlo *

Charity Wakefield Charity Rose Wakefield is an English actress. Her appearances include roles in ''Sense & Sensibility'' (2008), ''Casualty 1900s'' (2008–2009), ''Wolf Hall'' and ' (2015), '' Close to the Enemy'' (2016), ', ''Genius'' and ''Bounty Hunters'' (20 ...

as Georgina Dymova * Gwilym Lee as Grigor Dymov * Adam Godley as Archbishop "Archie" * Douglas Hodge as General Velementov * Belinda Bromilow as Elizabeth *Bayo Gbadamosi as Arkady *

Sebastian de Souza Sebastian Denis de Souza (born 19 April 1993)''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England and Wales, 1916–2005'' B100D is an English actor. He is best known for playing Matty Levan in the E4 (TV channel), E4 teen drama series ''Skins (TV seri ...

as Leo Voronsky (season 1) *Florence Keith-Roach as Tatyana (season 2–present; recurring season 1) *Danusia Samal as Lady Antonia Svenska (season 2; recurring season 1)

Recurring

Louis Hynes Louis Oliver Hynes (born 9 October 2001) is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Klaus Baudelaire in the Netflix series ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'', which ran from 2017 to 2019 and as Vlad in the first season of Hulu series ...

as Vlad (season 1) * Jamie Demetriou as Doctor Chekov (season 1) * Christophe Tek as Tartar Nick (season 1) * Charlie Price as Ivan (season 1) * Alistair Green as Count Smolny (season 1–2) * Abraham Popoola as Alexei Rostov (season 1) * Stewart Scudamore as Tolsten (season 1) * Christianne Oliveira as Countess Belanova *

Blake Harrison Blake Harrison is an English actor, comedian and dancer. He is best known for playing Neil Sutherland in the BAFTA-winning E4 comedy ''The Inbetweeners'' and more recently as 'Medium' Dan, in the ITV sitcom Kate & Koji since 2020. Career H ...

as Colonel Svenska (seasons 1–2) * Dustin Demri-Burns as

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...

(season 2; guest season 1) * Freddie Fox as King Hugo of Sweden (season 2; guest season 1) * Grace Molony as Queen Agnes of Sweden (season 2; guest season 1) * Julian Barratt as Dr. Vinodel (season 2) * Jane Mahady as Katya Velcra (season 2) * Anthony Welsh as Father Basil (season 2) * Ali Ariaie as Raskolvy (season 2) * Ramon Tikaram as Uncle Varnya (season 2) * Gillian Anderson as

Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp (24 October 1712 – 30 May 1760) was a member of the German House of Holstein-Gottorp, a princess consort of Anhalt-Zerbst by marriage, and the regent of Anhalt-Zerbst from 1747 to 1752 on behalf of her minor ...

(season 2) * Jason Isaacs as

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

(season 2) * Henry Meredith as Maxim (season 2)

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2020)

Season 2 (2021)

Production

Development

The series is based upon Tony McNamara's play revolving around

, which premiered at the

Sydney Theatre Company Sydney Theatre Company (STC) is an Australian theatre company based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company performs in The Wharf Theatre at Dawes Point in The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Thea ...

in 2008. McNamara also wrote a film adaption of the play, "It had been a play and a film, and I was always struggling with the fact it was such a massive story for a film. I wanted to tell it as a story that goes for years and years." The series was initially pitched as having six seasons, having planned to introduce key historical figures in Catherine's life as the series continued. On August 24, 2018, it was announced that

was close to giving a pilot order to a miniseries about

. The series was written by Tony McNamara who also served as an executive producer alongside Elle Fanning and Marian Macgowan. Production companies involved with the pilot consist of Media Rights Capital, Echo Lake Entertainment, and Thruline Entertainment. On November 20, 2018, it was reported that

Matt Shakman Matt Shakman is an American film, television, and theatre director, and former child actor. He produced and directed ''WandaVision'' and has directed episodes of ''The Great'', ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'', '' Fargo'' and ''Game of Thro ...

was directing the pilot. On February 11, 2019, it was announced during the Television Critics Association's annual winter press tour that Hulu had given the production a series order. On July 2, 2020, Hulu renewed the series for a second season. On January 11, 2022, Hulu renewed the series for a 10-episode third season.

Casting

Alongside the initial pilot announcement, it was confirmed that Elle Fanning and

had been cast in the pilot's lead roles as

and her husband

, respectively. In November 2018, it was announced that

, Sacha Dhawan,

, and Gwilym Lee had joined the cast of the pilot. In January 2020,

Sebastian De Souza Sebastian Denis de Souza (born 19 April 1993)''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England and Wales, 1916–2005'' B100D is an English actor. He is best known for playing Matty Levan in the E4 (TV channel), E4 teen drama series ''Skins (TV seri ...

, Adam Godley, and Douglas Hodge were added to the cast. On May 14, 2021, Gillian Anderson was cast in a guest starring role as

Johanna Johanna is a feminine name, a variant form of Joanna that originated in Latin in the Middle Ages, including an -h- by analogy with the Latin masculine name Johannes. The original Greek form ''Iōanna'' lacks a medial /h/ because in Greek /h/ cou ...

, Catherine's mother.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

for the pilot episode had commenced by November 2018 in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, England with other filming locations expected to include

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

and Hever in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. The main filming locations were Hatfield House in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, Belvoir Castle in

and the Royal Palace of Caserta in southern Italy. The loggia on the lake at

Hever Castle Hever Castle ( ) is located in the village of Hever, Kent, near Edenbridge, south-east of London, England. It began as a country house, built in the 13th century. From 1462 to 1539, it was the seat of the Boleyn (originally 'Bullen') family. ...

doubled as the location for a Russo-Swedish peace conference. The fields of the St Clere Estate near Sevenoaks in

were used to stage battle scenes in episodes five and seven. Filming for season two began on November 4, 2020 and ended on July 17, 2021; another location used was

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...

Release

Season 1

The series premiered in the United States on May 15, 2020.
In Australia, all episodes were released on

Stan Stan or STAN may refer to: People * Stan (given name), a list of people with the given name ** Stan Laurel (1890–1965), English comic actor, part of duo Laurel and Hardy * Stan (surname), a Romanian surname * Stan! (born 1964), American author ...

on May 16.
The series airs on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

and StarzPlay in the UK. It was released on StarzPlay 18 June 2020 and on Channel 4 on 3 January 2021.
StarzPlay also distribute the series in Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Benelux, Latin America and Brazil. More.tv broadcasts the show in Russia,

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

in New Zealand, and

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

in Canada.

Season 2

The second season premiered on 19 November 2021 in the US, and on the same day in Canada, for Amazon

Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service prim ...

. In the UK Starzplay premiered the second season on 5 December 2021 and on Channel 4 on 27 July 2022.

Historical accuracy

Hulu has described ''The Great'' as "anti-historical," and each episode's title sequence subtitled the series as an "occasionally true story" until the second season finale, when it changed to "an almost entirely untrue story." According to ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' critic Robert Lloyd, "McNamara had jotted down some names, relationships and a few historical bullet points, torn up the paper, and started writing. And so must the viewer abandon himself to what's on the plate without a care to learning anything useful or even true about Russia or any of the real people represented here."

Reception

Critical response

Season 1

The first season received mostly positive reviews from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, it holds an approval rating of 88% based on 83 critic reviews, with an average critic rating of 7.51/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''The Great'' can't quite live up to its namesake, but delicious performances from Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult and a wicked sense of humor make it a pretty good watch." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, it has a weighted average score of 74 out of 100 based on 33 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Season 2

The second season received critical acclaim. On Metacritic, the second season has a weighted average score of 86 out of 100 based on 7 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a "Certified Fresh" 100% approval rating based on 24 reviews, with an average critic rating of 8.40/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''The Great'' continues its revisionist reign stronger than before thanks to its addictive wit and marvelous cast − huzzah!"

Awards and nominations

Season 1

Season 2

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Great (TV Series) 2020s American comedy-drama television series 2020 American television series debuts American biographical series Depictions of Catherine the Great on television English-language television shows Hulu original programming Television series by Media Rights Capital Television shows filmed in Italy Television shows filmed in the United Kingdom Television series set in the 18th century Television series about royalty Cultural depictions of Peter III of Russia Primetime Emmy Award-winning television series

Premise

Cast and characters

Main

Recurring

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2020)

Season 2 (2021)

Production

Development

Casting

Filming

Release

Season 1

Season 2

Historical accuracy

Reception

Critical response

Season 1

Season 2

Awards and nominations

Season 1

Season 2

See also

References

External links