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

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)

• Charlie Wen has depicted Marvel’s Ultron sitting on a mountain of toilet paper, which is something I absolutely think would happen. Or more so Thanos would be cheering him on. (via CBR)
• Danai Gurira gave a heartfelt farewell to Michonne on The Walking Dead. (via Comicbook)

• BREAKING: This Wednesday, Full Frontal is back on the air! Don’t worry, we’re still social distancing, so Sam has enlisted her husband and children to help her shoot the show in her backyard. And you thought getting your family together to play FaceTime Bingo was hard… pic.twitter.com/EwyLXgVZyc

  — Full Frontal (@FullFrontalSamB) March 23, 2020

• Many Chinese-Americans feel threatened due to rampant racism and xenophobia after Trump called COVID-19 the “Chinese virus.” (via The New York Times)
• People keep making podcasts in order to stay connected with their friends and loved ones. (via Fast Company)
• Woody Allen’s book is out under a new publisher, so Stephen King doesn’t have to worry about him being silenced anymore. (via Vulture)
• Not usually a SKA fan, but this was really good:

Ugh, Mondays. What did you see today?

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