Elle Fanning will be Catherine the Great

Or not so great when you hear who wants to take the lead role. While Sky and HBO are preparing Helen Mirren mini series on the same topic, it seems Hulu is ready to order THE GREAT mini series on famous Russian Tzarina Catherine the Great starring Elle Fanning (Good Lord!) and Nicholas Hoult! She is, apparently, also producing the series which would describe the rise to power of Catherine the Great and her explosive relationship with husband Peter (Hoult), the emperor of Russia!

  A GERMAN PRINCESS ON THE RUSSIAN IMPERIAL THRONE

Nicholas Hoult will play the crazy Tsar Peter

As Deadline reports, Catherine, born Princess Sophie of Anhalt Zerbst, was the daughter of a Prussian general, who was introduced to the prospective tsar Peter of Holstein Gottorp when she was only 10 as part of European Royal families’ use of marriages as a tool for strengthening (and weakening) political ties between countries. Though she admitted to finding him detestable at first, the two eventually married after she had turned 16. Their union was tumultuous, with both rumoured to have extramarital affairs, and Peter’s temper becoming unbearable. Only six months into him ascending to the Russian throne, Catherine organized his opponents to overthrow him to start her successful 34-year rule. He was later on assassinated.