The Great is gearing up for a royal return to Hulu after nearly two years, setting the stage for Catherine (Elle Fanning) and Peter’s (Nicholas Hoult) next chapter.
A lot is changing in Russia in the wake of the couple’s latest scuffle, which saw Catherine stab Peter’s lookalike with the intent to kill. While she’s been driven by power, Catherine’s atrocious act was a result of her anger over Peter accidentally killing her mother while involved in a lusty entanglement. As the pair learn to live with each other and love one another, as best they can, Catherine’s getting used to her newfound power and Peter’s adjusting to life as a father.
“As a ruler, I think the big challenge is her relationship,” Fanning tells TV Insider. “Catherine and Peter are trying to make it work together.” That may be easier said than done, considering she tried to kill her husband. Still, there are other pursuits Catherine has to explore, like what it means to rule a nation.
(Credit: Christopher Raphael/Hulu)
“The American ambassador visits in the second episode and she really gets a spark of inspiration from him,” Fanning notes. “She loves his ideas, his pizazz, the ‘We The People’ of it all. I think she really loves the idea of that. So she tries to get the nobles, peasants, and merchants all together to agree.”
Again, this is a feat that isn’t simple, but one that Catherine is determined to crack. “That’s so Catherine of her,” Fanning says. “It’s like, ‘I’m just gonna make this happen. They’re all gonna be in a room and they’ll all work it out and it’ll all be good.’ And it’s like, no, that’s not really how you lead a country.”
Instead, according to Fanning, there has to be “compromise.” And while Catherine’s “ideas are progressive and good, she doesn’t quite know how to accomplish the goal. And I think she’s realizing that,” she admits. “She falters a bit. We see her weaknesses this season.”
Likewise, there are weaknesses on Peter’s side as well. Hoult notes that when it comes to Peter, “the character’s very straightforward. What you see is exactly what you get, and I think in many ways he is happy being a stay-at-home father and not having the pressure of the country on his plate. So there’s a joy within him.”
There’s still a lot of trauma and ghosts to contend with in his personal life. “Difficulties arise from memories of his father and how that plays upon him and the idea of legacy,” Hoult says. Plus, people around him are “manipulating and twisting him to their whim, their ideas, and their thoughts and seeing that he is perceptible to that.”
Will he be manipulated by Catherine? Only time will tell in this satirical costume drama.
The Great, Season 3 Premiere, Friday, May 12, Hulu
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