'The Great': Elle Fanning Shares First Look and Premiere Date for Season 3

The Great Season 3
Hulu

The Hulu historical dramedy stars Fanning as Catherine the Great and Nicholas Hoult as Peter III.

The Great, Hulu's Emmy-nominated historical dramedy about Catherine the Great, is set to return with season 3. Star Elle Fanning took to Instagram to share the first official look at her and Nicholas Hoult in the upcoming episodes, which will debut Friday, May 12. 

"Peter and Catherine return for Season 3 of The Great!!!" Fanning captioned the photo of her and Hoult seen as Catherine and her estranged husband, Peter III of Russia, respectively. 

According to Hulu, the not-so-factually based series from creator Tony McNamara, will follow the couple as they attempt to make their marriage work following many coup attempts and fights for power over their kingdom. Not only has Peter witnessed Catherine's attempt to murder him, she's also imprisoned all his supporters as she continues her reign. 

But despite all the distractions at hand -- fathering, hunting and "salty culinary ventures" -- it's not enough to keep Peter from being plagued by visions of his late father (Jason Isaacs), who gets in his head about failing to live up to his grandfather, Peter the Great. 

However, this is not the first time Peter has been distracted by the dead, after previously spending the first two seasons confiding to the mummified corpse of his late mother. “His mother was cruel to him and really scarred him psychologically and emotionally in ways that he has never recovered from, so that was really interesting for it then to be a part of the psychological warfare Catherine wages on him,” the actor previously explained to ET.  

Of course, season 2 was filled with tons of mommy issues, including Catherine having to fend off her demanding mother, Joanna, who was expertly played by Gillian Anderson, who coincidentally shared the screen with Isaacs on her other hit series, Sex Education

Catherine, meanwhile, starts to make a name for herself beyond her country's borders while also taking inspiration from a recent visit by a U.S. ambassador to open her doors up to the common people for ideas about how to make Mother Russia better. 

So, lots to look forward to when The Great returns to Hulu. 

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