Premiering exclusively on Stan on 16 May, the series is created by Australian Oscar®-nominated writer Tony McNamara and stars Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult.

The Great is a satirical, comedic drama about the rise of Catherine the Great from outsider to the longest reigning female ruler in Russia’s history. Season One is a fictionalised, fun and anachronistic story of an idealistic, romantic young girl, who arrives in Russia for an arranged marriage to the mercurial Emperor Peter. Hoping for love and sunshine, she finds instead a dangerous, depraved, backward world that she resolves to change.

All she has to do is kill her husband, beat the church, baffle the military and get the court onside. A very modern story about the past which encompasses the many roles she played over her lifetime as lover, teacher, ruler, friend, and fighter. Incorporating historical facts occasionally, the series stars Elle Fanning as Catherine, Nicholas Hoult, Phoebe Fox, Adam Godley, Gwilym Lee, Charity Wakefield, Douglas Hodge, Sacha Dhawan, Sebastian de Souza, Bayo Gbadamosi and Australia’s own Belinda Bromilow.

The Great is created, written and executive produced by Oscar®-nominated writer Tony McNamara (The Favourite) and executive produced by Marian Macgowan, Thruline’s Josh Kesselman and Ron West, Echo Lake’s Brittany Kahan Ward, Doug Mankoff and Andrew Spaulding, Elle Fanning,  Mark Winemaker and Matt Shakman. The series is from Civic Center Media in association with MRC Television.

The Great premieres 16 May only on Stan – same day as the US. All episodes will be available at once.