There ain’t no royal drama like The Great does royal drama. Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult are back in costumed action in this Season 2 trailer from Hulu, and yes, they hate the hell out of each other. That hasn’t changed, and Hoult’s depraved Peter III is a pain-in-the-ass as always, and kind-of how you’d imagine Kim Jong-un as a sexy, hard-partying Russian. The comedy stays bitingly dark, too, with Fanning’s Catherine the Great wondering about her likelihood of staying alive, and of course, there’s a beheading joke in there as well as some newfound Gillian Anderson.
This brings me to the subject of history, and accuracy. Catherine overthrew her husband, whom she did in fact detest, six months into their marriage. Whether or not this show will stick to any semblance of accuracy in the aftermath, well, that remains to be seen. HBO’s relatively recent Catherine The Great dealt a serious treatment of the subject, but Hulu’s take is very much of a different vibe. We’re seeing the darkest of humor, and if the powers that be decide to simply take everyone’s heads off, it actually wouldn’t be too terribly out-of-character with the show’s vibe. I’d be alright with it, as opposed to that horrible horse myth of the time about Catherine and the mystery surrounding Peter’s death. From the synopsis:
In season two of “The Great,” Catherine finally takes the Russian throne for her own — but if she thought coup-ing her husband was difficult, it’s nothing compared to the realities of ‘liberating’ a country that doesn’t want to be. She’ll battle her court, her team, even her own mother in a bid to bring the enlightenment to Russia. Meanwhile she’ll also battle her heart as Peter slowly transitions from much-hated husband, to prisoner? Ally? Lover? Ultimately Catherine will learn that to change a country, you must let it change you, that there is a fine line between idealism and delusion, and that becoming ‘Great’, will ask more of her than she could have imagined.
The Great returns to Hulu on November 19.