[imagesource: Ollie Upton]

Nothing hits the spot quite like a comedic take on history.

It combines the visually appealing aesthetics of a period film without the usual drama.

Catherine the Great, one of history’s most controversial and most successful monarchs, seems to have caught the imagination of television makers recently.

She was born in Germany as Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, but changed her name to Yekaterina Alekseyevna when she married Peter III of Russia.

Late last year, Helen Mirren took on the role of Catherine in a series portraying her in all her power-grabbing and famously horny glory.

Now Elle Fanning reprises the role, starring alongside Nicholas Hoult in a funnier, more lighthearted series, The Great, based loosely on historical facts.

Over to Deadline:

Billed as an anti-historical ride through 18th century Russia, the series traces the rise of Catherine the Great (Fanning) from outsider to the longest-reigning female ruler in Russia’s history. Here is Hulu’s logline: Season 1 is a fictionalized, fun and anachronistic story of an idealistic, romantic young girl who arrives in Russia for an arranged marriage to the mercurial Emperor Peter (Hoult).

Hoping for love and sunshine, she finds instead a dangerous, depraved, backward world that she resolves to change. All she has to do is kill her husband, beat the church, baffle the military and get the court onside. A very modern story about the past that encompasses the many roles she played over her lifetime as lover, teacher, ruler, friend and fighter.

Take in the trailer:

The series will premier on May 15, on Hulu.

[source:deadline]