OK, this one hurts. Hulu has canceled fan favorite The Great after three seasons.

The series starred Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult. Created, written and executive produced by Tony McNamara, The Great reinvented the period drama by revisiting the life of Catherine the Great, Russia’s reigning empress from 1762 to 1796. It depicted an iconic character and her place in history through a unique prism.

The third season dropped May 12 and revolved around Catherine (Fanning) and Nicholas (Hoult) working on their marriage.

It’s unclear what made the streamer decide to cancel the comedy, which garnered positive reviews and seven Emmy nominations since launching in 2020. It won an Emmy for Outstanding Period Costumes in 2022, the same year that Fanning and Hoult earned their first nominations for headlining the popular series. Fanning also received numerous other accolades for her performance as Catherine, including a SAG, a Critics Choice, an Independent Spirit Award and two Golden Globe nominations.

A spokesperson for Hulu declined comment.

The Great also starred Phoebe Fox, Adam Godley, Gwilym Lee, Charity Wakefield, Douglas Hodge, Sacha Dhawan, Bayo Gbadamosi and Belinda Bromilow. Several key characters were killed off in the third season, which earned the strongest accolades compared to the previous two seasons.

The season 3 finale wasn’t exactly a cliffhanger, as it ends with Catherine showing tremendous growth as a ruler (while sporting a new haircut). She also dances to AC/DC.

Besides McNamara, The Great was also executive produced by Fanning, Hoult, Marian Macgowan, Mark Winemaker, Echo Lake’s Brittany Kahan Ward, Doug Mankoff and Andrew Spaulding, Thruline’s Ron West and Josh Kesselman. The project is produced by Civic Center Media in association with MRC Television. [Source]

The Great is about to make its great return.

The Emmy-winning series will return to Hulu on Friday, May 12. Starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult, the third season follows Catherine (Fanning) and Peter (Hoult) as they attempt to make their marriage work after some seemingly insurmountable problems. Peter witnessed his own attempted murder at Catherine’s hands and she also imprisoned all of his friends.

On top of this, Peter is at a loose end playing First Husband to Catherine’s reign, so he busies himself with fathering, hunting and salty culinary ventures. But they’re not enough to keep him contented as visions of his late father (played by Jason Isaacs), get in his head about his failures as Peter the Great’s son. Catherine the Great starts making a name for herself beyond her borders and inspired by a visit from the US ambassador, sets up a conference where peasants, nobles and merchants can all give their input on developing a new Russia. She learns that even the best political leaders sometimes need to make compromises in order to progress.

Fanning announced the show’s return on her Instagram page.

The Great is created, written and executive produced by Tony McNamara and executive produced by Marian Macgowan, Mark Winemaker, Elle Fanning, Nicholas Hoult, Echo Lake’s Brittany Kahan Ward, Doug Mankoffand Andrew Spaulding, Thruline’s Ron West and Josh Kesselman.

The project is produced by Civic Center Media in association with MRC Television. [Source]

The film, based on Dracula’s henchman, also stars Nicolas Cage.

Universal has staked out a release date for Renfield, its monster movie starring Nicholas Hoult and Nicolas Cage. The film will open April 14, 2023, the studio announced Friday.

The film will face some competition on its date. Last week, Sony moved the Adam Driver sci-fi film 65 back a year to April 14, 2023.

Hoult stars as the titular Reinfeld, a henchmen for Dracula (played by Cage). The film, which is said to be a modern story with a comedic bent, comes at a turning point for Reinfeld. After centuries of procuring Dracula’s prey and doing his bidding, Reinfeld is ready to move on, if he can only figure out how to end his codependency with his master.

Chris McKay, who recently helmed Amazon’s The Tomorrow War, is in the director’s chair. Rick and Morty‘s Ryan Ridley penned the script, based on an idea from The Walking Dead‘s Robert Kirkman.

Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz and Adrian Martinez also star in Renfield, produced by Skybound Entertainment’s Kirkman, David Alpert, Bryan Furst and Sean Furst, along with McKay. McKay’s producing partner Samantha Nisenboim will executive produce.

Renfield first appeared in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, where he was an asylum patient who believed drinking blood would make him immortal. He eventually pledges himself to Dracula, who gets him to do his bidding by dangling the prospect of immortality in front of him. [Source]

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The Great-est Panel You’ve Ever Seen

That’s right, we’re bringing together Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult for a great panel about The Great. You’ll want to dress to impress for this evening of sipping cocktails with two of television’s most gorgeous royals. (Powdered wigs and gowns are recommended but not required.) And yes, the last time we saw them, they were trying to kill each other onscreen. So it’ll be nice to see them getting along in person. [Source]