Inside The Great’s Boundary-Breaking Season 2 and shocking finale

If season one of Wonderful thing, Hulu’s bendy narration about the reign of Catherine the Great, encircling historically accurate lines, part two abandons it with colorful fervor. In the second chapter of this “sometimes true story,” Catherine wrests control of Russia from her politically incompetent husband Peter. Now she must determine how to enact sweeping reforms that her court seems ready to dismiss.

Star Elle Fanning said the show remains committed to uncovering Catherine’s flaws as well as her exploits. “Yes, this is a feminist story,” Fanning told me from the series By Hulu The girl from Plainville, in which she will play Michelle Carter, who was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in infamous texting suicide. “But we didn’t want it to feel like she was always the smartest or always the bravest person in the room, because that’s not real life.”

Show creator Tony McNamara admit that he was left in search of answers during the height of the pandemic, when filming parts of the season as it existed in his head became logistically impossible. “We might have to take a few planned episodes and quickly rewrite them when we realize how difficult it is to have so many people going to the locations,” says McNamara. “But I think it’s okay. Sometimes restrictions are good.”

Constraints aside, going back to the setup after months of lockdown proves liberating for Fanning. “I’m really excited to perform and meet my friends. And we were in such a little bubble,” she said, “so we could just party and experiment together. I have felt more comfortable this season for testing. I do not know; I think Catherine is turning a little bit into Peter, too. She is becoming more ruthless this season.”

It was important for Fanning to rely on Catherine’s personality best suited as queen, even as she prepared for the birth of her first child. As the actress sees it, the fact that Catherine is about to become a mother has less personal significance and more political capital. “I thought it was like a nasty nuisance to Catherine,” Fanning said of the king’s pregnancy. “She said, ‘I’m trying to run this country, and then I’m pregnant. But it gives her a timeframe. It’s like, until the baby is born, I’m safe. I have five months to make all the changes I want to make and make this country perfect, because once I have children I can easily be overthrown and killed on that day.”

During personality, Fanning also made a conscious effort to avoid holding his stomach. She explains, “I see in shows and shows, when people touch their belly, it looks like a fake” — even when pregnant people actually do it in real life. “So I chose and chose when to make Catherine aware of the baby,” such as when a kick or a sudden craving for soil hits.

Then there’s the matter of Peter, played by someone who has never been better Nicholas Hoult. Although the real Catheirne killed her recently deposed husband during the period described in Wonderful thing season two, the show takes on Catherine finding herself caught up in a relationship that threatens to topple everyday Russia. Peter is now madly in love with Catherine, despite the coup she planned against him—and Catherine is unable to kill herself, even though that seems like the most obvious act.