The Great (TV series)

The Great (titled onscreen as The Great: An Occasionally True Story and in one episode as The Great: An Almost Entirely Untrue Story) is a British-American absurdist satirical dark comedy-drama historical fiction television series very loosely based on the rise to power of Empress Catherine the Great of Russia. The series stars Elle Fanning as Catherine and Nicholas Hoult as Emperor Peter III and Peter's body double Yemelyan Pugachev.
The Great was created, and is mostly written, by Australian playwright and screenwriter Tony McNamara, based on his 2008 play of the same name. The series does not aim for historical accuracy, and was described by Hulu as "anti-historical".
All ten episodes of the first season were released on Hulu on May 15, 2020. In July 2020, it was renewed for a second season which premiered on November 19, 2021. In January 2022, the series was renewed for a third season which premiered on May 12, 2023. The first season received mostly positive reviews, while the second and third seasons received critical acclaim, with particular praise for its directing, writing, humor, costumes, and cast performances (particularly those of Fanning and Hoult). It has received numerous accolades, including seven Primetime Emmy Awards nominations, with both Fanning and Hoult being nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress and Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, respectively, in 2022. In August 2023, Hulu announced the series' third season had been its last.
The Great is a historical and satirical black comedy-drama about the rise of Catherine the Great from outsider to the longest-reigning female ruler in Russia's history. The series is highly 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.
The series is based upon Tony McNamara's play revolving around Catherine the Great, which premiered at the Sydney Theatre Company 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 Hulu was close to giving a pilot order to a miniseries about Catherine the Great. 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 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 and final season.
Alongside the initial pilot announcement, it was confirmed that Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult had been cast in the pilot's lead roles as Catherine the Great and her husband Peter III of Russia, respectively. In November 2018, it was announced that Phoebe Fox, Sacha Dhawan, Charity Wakefield, and Gwilym Lee had joined the cast of the pilot. In January 2020, Sebastian De Souza, 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, Catherine's mother.
Principal photography for the pilot episode had commenced by November 2018 in York, England with other filming locations expected to include Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Hever in Kent. The main filming locations were Hatfield House in Hertfordshire, Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire and the Royal Palace of Caserta in southern Italy. The loggia on the lake at Hever Castle doubled as the location for a Russo-Swedish peace conference. St Clere Estate near Sevenoaks in Kent was used to stage battle scenes, palace gardens, hunting scenes, carriage routes, the Swedish border, the war-torn Russian village and the frozen lake among other scenes. Filming for season two began on November 4, 2020 and ended on July 17, 2021; another location used was Hampton Court Palace. Filming for season three began on July 12, 2022 and ended on December 6, 2022.
The series premiered in the United States on May 15, 2020. In Australia, all episodes were released on Stan on May 16. The series airs on Channel 4 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 in New Zealand, and Amazon Prime Video in Canada.
The second season premiered on November 19, 2021 in the US, and on the same day in Canada, for Amazon Prime Video.
In the UK Starzplay premiered the second season on 5 December 2021 and on Channel 4 on 27 July 2022.
The third season premiered on May 12, 2023, with all 10 episodes on Hulu.
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 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."
Peter III is inaccurately referred to as being the son of Peter the Great on numerous occasions; he was actually his grandson. "Aunt" Elizabeth is modeled on Peter the Great's actual daughter, Empress Elizabeth, but this version is Peter's sister-in-law and lover, and has never ruled Russia. While Elizabeth did negotiate the marriage of her nephew Charles Peter Ulrich (later Peter III) to the future Catherine the Great, as portrayed in the series, historically this was done while Elizabeth was ruling as sovereign Empress, and Peter only became Emperor after Elizabeth's death. Unlike in the series, Elizabeth was not close or loving to Peter III or to Catherine, although she was desperate for Catherine to produce an heir. The young prince and possible claimant to the throne Ivan was secretly kept prisoner as a child during Peter III's reign, as portrayed on the series, having been imprisoned since infancy by Empress Elizabeth, who had taken the throne from him and his regent mother Anna Leopoldovna. Ivan was not killed by Elizabeth and did not die during Peter's reign, as portrayed in the series, but was killed during the second year of Catherine's reign by his guards to prevent an attempt to free him (per Catherine's orders in case of such an attempt) when Ivan was twenty years old. In addition, Ivan VI was not Peter III's half brother, but was his second cousin once removed, being a great-grandson of Peter the Great's half-brother Ivan V.
Catherine's negative reception upon her arrival in Russia more closely resembles that given to Marie Antoinette upon arriving in France. In reality, Catherine was something of a Russian nationalist before even arriving in Russia and rapidly became more popular than her husband. In the series, Peter III is portrayed as a native-born Russian who is deeply connected to his country and its traditions, and opposition to Catherine's rule often centres around her being a German foreigner. In reality Peter III was German-born like Catherine, always identified himself as German and not Russian, and refused to adopt the Russian language or culture even while living in Russia and serving as its emperor. His overthrow was heavily due to the military and local nobility's support for Catherine's Russian patriotism as opposed to the pro-Prussian policy and attitude of Peter III. Moreover, "Catherine" is portrayed as being her original name, when in fact it was her baptismal name after converting to Russian Orthodoxy; her original German Protestant name was Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg.
Most historically based events are greatly compressed or transposed in the series' timeline, while others are greatly lengthened. In the series, Catherine meets and marries Peter when he is already Emperor and both are adults. Catherine begins the series around the age of 19 and does not overthrow Peter or give birth to her son Paul until she is 21. In reality, Catherine and Peter met as children and were married at the ages of 16 and 17 respectively, when Peter was heir apparent to the Russian throne. Peter and Catherine lived as Grand Duke and Duchess of Russia for seventeen years before Peter became Emperor, and he was overthrown by Catherine after six months, while in the series Catherine does not commence her coup until roughly two years into the marriage. Catherine's son Paul was already eight years old when Peter became Emperor, and Peter was not caring or protective of the child, of whom he suspected he was not the father. As opposed to months of violent battle between loyalists and rebels as portrayed in the series, Catherine's coup against Peter took only about one day, had almost no armed opposition, and secured Peter's abdication mostly bloodlessly. As in the series, Peter was not sentenced to execution and was placed under house arrest, although not in the same residence as Catherine but at his estate in Ropsha. Instead of the long time Peter remains alive following the coup in the series, the historical Peter died only six days after his overthrow. The circumstances of Peter III's death remain shrouded in mystery, with different accounts and theories alleging disease, accident, drunken brawl or deliberate assassination as the cause. This ambiguity and suspicion is alluded to in the third-season finale "Once Upon a Time", when Catherine orders differing and contradictory explanations of Peter's death to be circulated.
Many events from later in the real Catherine's 34-year reign are retrofitted into her first year or two in power in the series, such as the Russian-Ottoman War of 1768 to 1774 and Russia's response to the American Revolution. As shown in the season three episode "Choose Your Weapon", Great Britain did attempt to bribe Catherine with the island of Menorca in exchange for Russian support against the American rebels, and Catherine was appealed to by a representative of the then-unrecognized United States (in the series called Mr. Glover, historically Francis Dana); Catherine did also express admiration for the principles of the United States Declaration of Independence. Russia and Sweden did fight numerous wars in the 17th and 18th centuries, including one during Catherine's reign from 1788 to 1790, and one under Empress Elizabeth's rule when Peter was heir to the throne from 1741 to 1743, but none during Peter III's brief reign. King Hugo and Queen Agnes of Sweden are fictional, but there were several real Swedish monarchs who experienced similar defeats and overthrows by democratizing movements in the 18th century, a period known as Sweden's Age of Liberty.
Other events in the series are deliberately anachronistic or combine elements liberally from the 17th to 19th centuries. Catherine claims at one point to have met René Descartes, who in reality died in 1650, almost 80 years before Catherine the Great was born; in another episode Catherine and her mother express disdain at Beethoven, who did not achieve fame until the 1790s, shortly before the real Catherine's death.
Most members of Peter and Catherine's court in the series have no direct historical counterparts. Count Orlo's name suggests the historical Prince Grigory Orlov, who as in the series played a key role in Catherine's coup, had a love of culture and Enlightenment ideals, and promoted smallpox vaccination. In reality, Orlov was a military officer and lover of Catherine's, and his death was due to prolonged illness and not shooting. Grigor Dymov also has no direct historical basis, though his first name and prominence in Peter and Catherine's court recall both Prince Orlov and Prince Grigory Potemkin. As portrayed, Catherine the Great was an ardent reader of Enlightenment-era philosophers such as Denis Diderot, Montesquieu, Rousseau and Voltaire; she did not have Voltaire live in her court, although the two corresponded for years, and she did summon Diderot and Lemercier de La Rivière for brief visits, as well as Rousseau, who declined. As portrayed, Catherine was the first person in Russia to be inoculated for smallpox via variolation, although this was during her rule, not in defiance of any laws. There was a ban on beards and on private use of the printing press in Russia before Catherine's reign, as portrayed. The Nakaz portrayed in season three is inspired by history, although it was not the name of the consultative body convened by Catherine (which was actually called the All-Russian Legislative Commission), but rather of the proclamations that resulted from it ("Nakaz" being Russian for "Instruction").
The Cossack Pugachev, who led a revolt against Catherine's rule while claiming to be her deceased husband Peter III, is here portrayed as a royal lookalike in Peter's court. In reality Pugachev was the son of a Cossack landowner and a deserter from the Russian army before assuming Peter's identity, and his rebellion began eleven years after the real Peter III's death, not while Peter was still alive as in the series. The real Pugachev had no known connection to the imperial court or royal family, and he was only one of several people who claimed they were the deceased Peter III after his downfall, although Pugachev was certainly the most successful. His rebellion recruited tens of thousands of peasants and caused great distress for Catherine's reign, as portrayed; it did not succeed in capturing Moscow, as portrayed in the series, but did manage to briefly occupy the major city of Kazan.
The series repeatedly alludes to a longstanding legend that Catherine the Great died while engaging in bestiality with a horse. In the series this is transformed to a claim made repeatedly, though groundlessly, by Catherine's contemporaries that she had sexual intercourse with a horse before coming to Russia.
The first season received mostly positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of 89% based on 87 critic reviews, with an average critic rating of 7.50/10. 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, it has a weighted average score of 74 out of 100 based on 33 reviews.
The second season received critical acclaim. On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100 based on 9 reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an 100% approval rating based on 34 reviews, with an average critic rating of 8.20/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Great continues its revisionist reign stronger than before thanks to its addictive wit and marvelous cast − huzzah!"
The third season has received critical acclaim. On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 88 out of 100 based on 8 reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of 100% based on 16 reviews, with an average critic rating of 8/10.