This story about “The Great” stars Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult first appeared in the Down to the Wire: Comedy issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.
In its second season, “The Great” found a new gear and Emmy voters noticed.
The relationships between Russia’s Catherine the Great and her tyrant husband Peter got messier and more complicated, the hormonal and sexual energy once Catherine became an expectant mother got more intense, and the stakes were raised to the point that it wasn’t clear if even Peter would make it out alive.
After voters bypassed them in the Hulu comedy’s first season, stars Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult both landed lead acting nominations this year, their first in each of their careers that date back decades despite their relative youth.