Development The series is based upon
Tony McNamara's play revolving around
Catherine the Great, which premiered at the
Sydney Theatre Company in 2008. McNamara also wrote a film adaption of the play, "It had been a play and a film, and I was always struggling with the fact it was such a massive story for a film. I wanted to tell it as a story that goes for years and years." The series was initially pitched as having six seasons, having planned to introduce key historical figures in Catherine's life as the series continued. On August 24, 2018, it was announced that
Hulu was close to giving a pilot order to a miniseries about
Catherine the Great. The series was written by
Tony McNamara who also served as an executive producer alongside
Elle Fanning and Marian Macgowan. Production companies involved with the pilot consist of
Media Rights Capital, Echo Lake Entertainment, and Thruline Entertainment. On November 20, 2018, it was reported that
Matt Shakman was directing the pilot. On February 11, 2019, it was announced during the
Television Critics Association's annual winter press tour that Hulu had given the production a series order. On July 2, 2020, Hulu renewed the series for a second season. On January 11, 2022, Hulu renewed the series for a 10-episode third season; in August 2023, Hulu announced the third season had been its last.
Casting Alongside the initial pilot announcement, it was confirmed that
Elle Fanning and
Nicholas Hoult had been cast in the pilot's lead roles as
Catherine the Great and her husband
Peter III of Russia, respectively. In November 2018, it was announced that
Phoebe Fox,
Sacha Dhawan,
Charity Wakefield, and
Gwilym Lee had joined the cast of the pilot. In January 2020,
Sebastian De Souza,
Adam Godley, and
Douglas Hodge were added to the cast. On May 14, 2021,
Gillian Anderson was cast in a guest starring role as
Johanna, Catherine's mother.
Filming Principal photography for the pilot episode had commenced by November 2018 in
York, England with other filming locations expected to include
Leicestershire,
Lincolnshire and
Hever in
Kent. The main filming locations were
Hatfield House in
Hertfordshire,
Belvoir Castle in
Leicestershire and the
Royal Palace of Caserta in southern Italy. The
loggia on the lake at
Hever Castle doubled as the location for a Russo-Swedish peace conference.
St Clere Estate near
Sevenoaks in
Kent was used to stage battle scenes, palace gardens, hunting scenes, carriage routes, the Swedish border, the war-torn Russian village and the frozen lake among other scenes. Filming for season two began on November 4, 2020 and ended on July 17, 2021; another location used was
Hampton Court Palace. Filming for season three began on July 12, 2022 and ended on December 6, 2022. ==Release==