Overview
Since arriving in 2020, The Great has served up the satirical take on Russian history that no one knew they needed. On-screen, everyone said "huzzah!" a whole lot — and, off-screen, viewers shared that sentiment. But all that cheering at this delightfully dark (and Emmy-nominated) twist on the past has now come to an end, with Hulu, the American streaming platform behind the series, cancelling the Elle Fanning (The Girl From Plainville)- and Nicholas Hoult (The Menu)-starring favourite.
The Great made it to three seasons, all fittingly great, with the third dropping in May this year. From now on, however, anyone keen to dive into Catherine the Great's story will need to hit up the history books.
Across its run, the nuptials between Catherine (Fanning) and Peter III (Hoult) were in the spotlight, alongside affairs, pregnancies, obsessions over heirs, grappling for power, bloody coups, assassination plots and very little wedded bliss. Attempted murders, mass imprisonments, oh-so-much backstabbing (sometimes literally), hallucinations, couples therapy, plenty of drinking and tumbles in the sheets: that all popped up as well.
The show's all killer, no filler concept since season one: following Catherine's rise and reign, with a heavy focus on what that means for her marriage to Peter. The Great stuck to that mission with only the slightest regard for the actual facts and with a big reliance upon hilarious wit, which is one of the reasons that it was such a delicious watch from the get-go.
While The Great was supremely confident in its blend of handsome period staging, the loosest of historical realities and a savage sense of humour (it does spring from Oscar-nominated The Favourite screenwriter Tony McNamara, after all), it felt even more comfortable in its skin the longer that it kept going. And smoother, too, yet just as biting, all while seesawing tonally and proving as sharp as a shot of vodka — or several.
As well as Fanning and Hoult, Phoebe Fox (The Aeronauts), Adam Godley (Lodge 49), Gwilym Lee (Top End Wedding), Charity Wakefield (Genius), Douglas Hodge (I Hate Suzie Too), Sacha Dhawan (Doctor Who), Bayo Gbadamosi (War of the Worlds), Florence Keith-Roach (Juliet, Naked), Freddie Fox (House of the Dragon), Grace Molony (Mary, Queen of Scots) and Belinda Bromilow (Doctor Doctor) are all among the cast. And, in season two, The Great even found room for Gillian Anderson (The Crown) as Catherine's mother.
What's the opposite of "huzzah!"? That's all that's left to be said.
Check out the trailer for The Great season three below:
The Great streams in Australia via Stan and in New Zealand via Neon. Read our reviews of season one, two and three.
Via Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.