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Things We Saw Today: We’re Not Sure About This Trailer for Hulu’s Upcoming Series The Great, About the Young Years of Catherine the Great

I have some thoughts.

Elle Fanning as Catherine the Great and Nicholas Hoult as Peter III of Russia

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Hulu released the first trailer of their upcoming miniseries The Great, starring Elle Fanning as Catherine the Great, 8th Tsar of Russia, and Nicholas Hoult as Peter III of Russia. It looks very much The Favourite meets Apple TV’s Dickinson, which isn’t a bad thing at all, but the casting just seems unimaginative.

I’m quite fond of Elle Fanning, but it seems like she is channeling a lot of her Aurora in Maleficent energy, while taking some cues from Emma Stone’s turnl in The Favourite. Not bad, but quite uninspired when we are talking about a figure as dynamic and appealing as Ekaterina Alekseyevna.

Also, the coloring is all wrong. Catherine had very dark hair and extremely different energy than the hint of whimsy that Fanning is serving. I get that it’s a comedy and I am still looking forward to watching it, because I’m period drama trash, but I just wish it had more creative aesthetics. Or just looked more like … Russia. The sets look like The Favourite and even though Tony McNamara is the executive producer, it doesn’t seem totally right for the show. But we shall see, won’t we?

I’d highly recommend checking out the Russia series Ekaterina for a different look at the historical ruler.

(image: Hulu)

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Ugh, Mondays. What did you see today?

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Princess Weekes
Princess (she/her-bisexual) is a Brooklyn born Megan Fox truther, who loves Sailor Moon, mythology, and diversity within sci-fi/fantasy. Still lives in Brooklyn with her over 500 Pokémon that she has Eevee trained into a mighty army. Team Zutara forever.

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