Some not-so-great news: Hulu has canceled its off-beat historical drama/comedy/thing The Great, according to Deadline. The show, which starred A-listers Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult and ran for three seasons, was both a critical darling and beloved by those who watched it so its cancellation is a pretty big surprise. The series had just dropped its third season on May 12, which didn’t exactly end on a cliffhanger but also was very clearly not meant to be a season finale.
The show was created, written, and executive produced by Tony McNamara, who took a unique approach to period drama, allowing comedy to infuse throughout the series but still honing to an at least somewhat accurate depiction of what happened. It focused on Russia’s Catherine the Great (Fanning), who is forced to choose between her own happiness and the future of Russia as she marries Nicholas. It was one of the freshest shows on streaming/television and netted multiple nominations and awards, especially for Fanning. That’s not to mention it was one of the few Hulu Original series that managed to break into the general zeitgeist in recent years.
Given that it’s unclear why Hulu, which is owned by Disney, canceled the show. It may be because the big-name stars headlining it were starting to cost too much in comparison to the ratings it was pulling in but if Hulu wants to be considered a streaming contender then it has to pay the big names. That may, in fact, be just it. Disney is slowly merging Hulu and Disney+ as shows cross over from one streamer to the other (most towards Disney+) and it may have seen The Great as something it didn’t want around anymore. Thankfully, it doesn’t appear that Hulu is completely removing the show from its platform as other streamers have done when they’ve canceled shows, though this could change.
