The Great canceled at Hulu after three seasons
This is the opposite of huzzah.
EW can confirm that The Great, the period dramedy starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult, has been canceled at Hulu after three seasons. Deadline was the first to report the cancellation.
Representatives for the series declined to comment.
Christopher Raphael/Hulu Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult in 'The Great'
Originally billed as "an occasionally true story" before adjusting it's historical note to "an almost entirely untrue story," The Great is loosely based on Catherine The Great's rise to power as the Empress of Russia. The series took a satirical look at the life of Russia's longest-reigning female ruler, beginning with her arrival in the country and complicated marriage to spoiled brute Peter III.
Fanning and Hoult played the couple, whose relationship took fascinating turns each and every season as Catherine alternated between love and a desire to murder her husband and seize control of the country.
Earlier this year, the series aired its shocking third season, which included several jaw-dropping deaths, including Peter, Peter's lookalike Pugachev (also played by Hoult), and Orlo (Sacha Dhawan). The finale left off with Catherine at the start of a new chapter, having experienced all five stages of grief and looking forward to the next era of her rule.
While the show's viewership data is unknown (an issue at the heart of the current WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes), the series was critically acclaimed, earning several Emmy nominations over the course of its run for Fanning, Hoult, and more.
Christopher Raphael/Hulu Elle Fanning as Catherine in 'The Great'
Speaking to EW following what is now the series finale, showrunner and series creator Tony McNamara hinted at plans for a fourth season and spoke to his hopes for the next stage of Catherine's reign.
"For me, it's not an ending, it's a rebirth in a way for her as a character," McNamara said of the finale. "She hasn't ruled by herself yet and been without [Peter]'s... everything, even the grief of him colored everything she did. So I guess for me, it's like now she's free of him and she's deeply damaged, what happens now? She's kind of cut loose in the way that [the real] Catherine the Great was once she was free of all that — she ruled in a quite crazy way. So I'm interested in that version of Catherine that we haven't seen."
Looking ahead, he added, "I think yesterday I was reading some things and I thought 'that'd be cool for season 4.'... I feel like I'm interested and I'm excited about what it is — what is this iteration of the show, which was always kind of one we were heading towards."
The series also starred Phoebe Fox, Adam Godley, Gwilym Lee, Charity Wakefield, Douglas Hodge, Bayo Gbadamosi, and Belinda Bromilow.
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