The Great (2020 TV series)

• Elle Fanning as Catherine the Great
• Nicholas Hoult as Peter III of Russia
• Phoebe Fox as Marial
• Sacha Dhawan as Orlo
• Charity Wakefield as Georgina Dymova
• Gwilym Lee as Grigor Dymov
• Adam Godley as Archbishop "Archie"
• Douglas Hodge as General Velementov
• Belinda Bromilow as Aunt Elizabeth
• Richard Pyros as Count Raskolnikov
• Bayo Gbadamosi as Arkady
• Sebastian de Souza as Leo Voronsky

• Danusia Samal as Lady Antonia Svenska
• Louis Hynes as Vlad
• Florence Keith-Roach as Tatyana
• Jamie Demetriou as Doctor Chekov
• Christophe Tek as Tartar Nick
• Charlie Price as Ivan
• Alistair Green as Count Smolny
• Abraham Popoola as Alexei Rostov
• James Smith as Count Gorky
• Stewart Scudamore as Tolsten
• Phill Webster as Palace Guard
• Adam Darlington as head Footman
• Dustin Demri-Burns as Voltaire

The series is based upon Tony McNamara's play revolving around Catherine the Great, which premiered at the Sydney Theatre Company in 2008.[4] 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."[5][6] The series was initially pitched as having six seasons, having planned to introduce key historical figures in Catherine's life as the series continued.[7]

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.[8] On November 20, 2018, it was reported that Matt Shakman was directing the pilot.[9] 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.[10]

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.[9][11][12] In January 2020, Sebastian De Souza, Adam Godley, and Douglas Hodge were added to the cast.[13]

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 Italy.[11][14][15][16][17][18] The Loggia on the lake at Hever Castle doubles as an unnamed Eastern European house. The fields of the St Clere Estate near Sevenoaks in Kent were used to stage battle scenes in Episodes 5 and 7.[19] Filming for season two began on November 4, 2020.[20]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds an approval rating of 88% based on 76 critic reviews, with an average critic rating of 7.46/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Gorgeous, if gratuitous, 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."[24] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100 based on 30 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[25]