Get ready to spend another season squealing and gasping over Catherine The Great’s adventures, Hulu’s The Great is officially returning for a 10-episode second season.
Months since the anti-historical dramedy debuted, The Great has skyrocketed to the top spot as one of Hulu’s highest performing original comedies, according to Deadline.
Set in 18th Century Russia, the series stars Elle Fanning as the titular sovereign, and Nicholas Hoult as her dense spouse, Emperor Peter. Throughout each episode, the young, idealistic, and romantic young girl quickly becomes wise to the dangerous and depraved world that she resolves to change. In the process, conflicting with her husband, beating the church, baffling the military, and getting the court (mostly) on her side. And it looks like we’ll get to see more.
Fanning, who is also an executive producer on the show, has been excited to continue Catherine’s story on-screen, for quite a while.
She gave fans their first look at the upcoming second instalment—sharing a photo of herself as a pregnant Catherine. “Cooking up something special for season 2,” Fanning, who was recently nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance on the series, captioned the image.
Nearly a decade after Catherine and Peter III wed, they welcomed their first child, son Paul I, in 1754. Though, there are rumours that said son was actually fathered by Russian military officer Sergei Saltykov.
As showrunner, The Favourite‘s Tony McNamara will be back for season two as writer and executive producer. Along with Fanning, as Catherine The Great, and supposedly Nicholas Holt will return to his role, despite his cliffhanger ending in the finale.
While announcing season two on her Instagram, the star hinted that Catherine didn’t quite succeed in her plans to dethrone her husband.
“Okay, now seriously @nicholashoult I’m going to get you this time…” she joked in her post.
Furthermore, in a report by Variety, the actor faced scheduling conflicts between the second season of The Great and the next Mission: Impossible film, however, he exited the big-screen project in May.
With the recent release of the second season’s first trailer, it has been confirmed to be a total of 10 episodes and will see Catherine take the Russian throne once and for all, as per the season 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,” the synopsis reads.
“She’ll battle her court, her team, even her own mother in a bid to bring the enlightenment to Russia,” it continues. “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.
WATCH BELOW: The Great Season 2 Trailer
The series has also welcomed another iconic actress to the mix, Gillian Anderson, who is set to play Catherine’s mother Joanna. The actress, who most recently played Margaret Thatcher in Netflix’s The Crown, will reportedly appear in two episodes to bring the German socialite to life.
When it comes to the release date, The Great season 2 is set to premiere on November 20, the same day as the U.S.
In the meantime, you can catch up on the first season of The Great on Stan.
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