[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Season 2 of The Great.]
From creator Tony McNamara, the second season of the Hulu original series The Great sees Catherine (Elle Fanning) succeed in her coup against Peter (Nicholas Hoult), taking the Russian throne for herself. But that’s definitely not the end of the battle, as she finds herself up against her court, her team and even her own mother (Gillian Anderson), and she must decide whether she might actually love the husband turned prisoner who is also the father of her child.
During this interview with Collider, which you can both watch and read, co-stars Fanning and Hoult talked about why making The Great is such a harmonious experience, whether they miss playing their characters between seasons, all of the slapping going on, having all of the Peter lookalikes on set, looking at acting similarly to a sport, and how curious they are about where a possible Season 3 could go next.
Collider: These characters are always so fun to watch. Could you ever have imagined that you would be saying, “Huzzah!,” so many times in one job and is there anyone that keeps a running counter for how many times you guys have to say it?
ELLE FANNING: I wish there was someone just there to tally.
NICHOLAS HOULT: You wish there was someone there just to count huzzahs with a chalkboard in the corner of the studio?
FANNING: Yeah, that would be fun. Gosh, no, I don’t think I really could have ever dreamed of a role so great, or a job so amazing, with a script like this. It’s out of your capacity of dreaming that up. Things like this just happen, and I think they’re meant to. They come to you and it’s very instinctual and right. Everything about this is so harmonious and right. The cast, we love each other so much. Everyone’s beyond talented, in front of the camera and behind the camera. It’s the most fun show, ever. Out of every show, I think we have the best set, I really do. I would bet on that.
These characters are so big and bold and over-the-top. Do you miss playing them, in between seasons, or is it a character that you’re happy to pack away and take a break from for a little bit?
HOULT: It’s overall really, really fun. Because it’s so well-written and such a joy to play them, it’s not taxing. Obviously, there are times when it’s difficult and it takes a lot, but it’s in a really fun way that’s enjoyable. But I do kind of miss it.
FANNING: I miss it too.
HOULT: I miss the process and what the environment is. I’m not saying that I wanna be like the character all the time, but at the same time, that world, to inhabit it, is a wonderful place to get to go and play.
FANNING: I miss the freedom that we have. We can push the limits and do anything, and that’s very rare. I feel that way. Especially opened up, I think this second season, everyone was really there to play. It’s just so fun. Fun is such a boring word to describe a show like this, but it is. I do miss it. I’m on another job now that is great . . .
HOULT: And you hate it because it’s not this and I’m not there.
FANNING: No! But it’s so different. I miss Catherine, I really do. I’ve never had that with a character. Normally, I’m like, “That’s good. That’s done. Fine. That was a good experience.” But I genuinely actually do miss Catherine. And I think of things often that I can do in the show as her, weirdly. I’ll be like, “Oh, I could do that next season.”
There seems to be a real theme of slapping this season. What’s it like to do a scene where you have to slap yourself? You have to slap yourself multiple times this season, and you’re slapping other people and you’re getting slapped. What is it like to do all of that?
FANNING: I know. I kind of loved it. There was a stunt coordinator on set. Catherine has this thing where she punches herself every time she gets emotional, especially when she gets overwhelmed. When she thinks about Leo, she chokes down her emotions. I would just put my rings on the other hand and haul off and punch myself in the face. And then, the stunt coordinator was like, “Oh, my God, you can’t do that. Do it fake.” And I was like, “It can’t be fake, if it’s on camera. It’s fine.” We always try to do a real slap in the take, if we’re with other people. In the pilot, I accidentally slapped [Nicholas]. We’re not doing it, over and over again.
HOULT: There’s at least one or two takes where we’ll do a real slap.
FANNING: With Belinda [Bromilow], she was like, “Please just slap me. Let’s do it!” We do it, so that we at least have one real one.
Nicholas, how weird is it for you to have all of the lookalikes around set?
HOULT: There was one that really looks like me, which is bizarre. It’s a really fun storyline that Tony [McNamara] came up with it, and it is actually strangely based on truth. This guy, Pugachev, did actually try to take the throne from Catherine because he somewhat resembled Peter from paintings and he just went with it and was like, “Yeah, I am him,” and got supporters and tried a military takeover. It was fun because it was based in truth.
FANNING: There were a lot of tall, broad guys.
HOULT: Dashing men, running around. I was in my element. I said, “This is it. I’ve made it, finally.” It’s funny because there’s this idea that Peter has that Catherine would never kill him and it’s clearly false. The second he sends most lookalikes out, they get shot.
FANNING: She knows it’s not him.
These two are left in quite an interesting place, by the end of the season. What would you say about their state of mind and how that could affect things into Season 3?
FANNING: It will be interesting. There’s a lot of things we can’t say. I really wanna know what Tony is gonna write, if we get to do that. It could go in a lot of different ways.
HOULT: It’s left in a spot where I don’t think either of them know how to move forward. I think that’s what happens in a lot of relationships anyways. There starts to be so much history and life and baggage, for lack of a better term, that it’s very difficult to see a future. That’s what starts to happen to Catherine and Peter. Throughout these first two seasons, there’s a lot of love and admiration and wonderful things between them, but also truly horrendous stuff as well. They’re now parenting together, but there’s a lot of truth in what she’s tried to do to him and what he has done to her that you can’t move past.
FANNING: Catherine has moved past a lot with him. She’s forgiven a lot.
I love the little moment between the two of you, in Episode 5, where you’re dancing together without music in the bedroom. There’s just something so sweet about that moment between them. If feels like there isn’t any manipulation involved, like there often is. Was that a fun moment to shoot?
FANNING: It was really nice. I love when we get to do the dancing in the show because they’re always these odd little funky dances that we get to learn. Normally, at the end of long shoot days, they’re like, “Can you go on one of the sets and just learn this dance real quick?,” and we have to learn it quickly and do it. That’s at the end of that episode and it’s halfway in the season. I think it’s a turning point for Catherine. She’s actually confused. She’s like, “How am I really feeling about this guy? I thought I hated him, but I like dancing with him, so what does that mean?” That was sweet. It’s nice to honestly also have scenes where we don’t have to say anything or memorize any lines.
HOULT: The quiet moments are nice. The scripts and the show are always so dialogue heavy and sharp. When you get a moment of peace or silence, or the characters are just together and enjoying each other’s company without the back and forth, that side of the things is very powerful.
It also feels like on this show, if you forget a line, you could just swear and it’ll work.
FANNING: I know. It’s very specific, the swearing. Tony puts it in at very specific moments. It’s delicately peppered in, but all very thought through.
Elle, you have multiple emotional breakdowns on this show, this season. What are those scenes like for you to do? Do you have any specific preparation or any tricks that you do in those moments?
FANNING: I don’t know. My family is very into sports. Everyone’s in sports, so I look at acting similarly to a sport. You have to get in whatever zone it is and be like, “All right, it’s game day,” and you use the anxiety or the nerves to get you so riled up that it just explodes. I like that feeling of teetering on the edge and finally being like, “Okay, boom.” I don’t know. There’s something about it. It’s hard to describe weird things like that, but it’s cathartic. For Catherine, those moments can be really shocking in the show, when it’s the emotional punch. I think this show works well because it’s funny, but it also really has the heart too. Hopefully, it makes people care.
The Great is available to stream at Hulu.