HULU RELEASES NEW TRAILER FOR HISTORICAL COMEDY SERIES ON CATHERINE THE GREAT WITH ELLE FANNING, NICHOLAS HOULT. PLUS NEW ITALIAN PERIOD SET SERIES HERESY ON HOLY INQUISITION

     'HERESY' NEW PERIOD SET

TELEVISION SERIES FROM ITALY

German superhunk Rudolf Martin will star in Heresy

After Medici, Name of the Rose, Luna Nera and Romulus, a new Italian historical TV series has been announced, but this one will be a co-production with the United States. Nucleus Media Rights has hired Butch Kaplan (The Notebook, Fear The Walking Dead) as showrunner on upcoming drama HERESY which will start production on its eight episodes at the end of the year with Rudolf Martin already cast as one of the stars. Created by Mark Melville, the story of the new historical series will revolve around a young woman who fights the Holy Inquisition. The producers promise a daring and innovative new series planned to air in the first quarter of 2021.

     NEW 'THE GREAT' TRAILER

POKES FUN WITH THE EMPRESS

And our suggestion for today on what to watch during the corona virus quarantine (which might easily last till the end of summer) is THE GREAT a new historical comedy series that will start on Hulu May 15th starring Elle

Elle Fanning takes the lead role in this offensive mockery

Fanning as Russian empress Catherine the Great and Nicholas Hoult as her husband Petter III of Russia. Hulu has released a new trailer which you

The Great hits Hulu from May 15th this year

can watch below and tell us what you think. Unlike most other series that depicted the longest reigning Russian monarch, this one will do it with a touch

Nicholas Hoult plays crazy Russian Emperor Peter III

 of comedy incorporating historical facts only occasionally. The mini series will describe the beginnings of their arranged marriage and how, in order to leave

Elle Fanning has been chosen to wear the Russian imperial crown

her mark in history, 'all' she had to do was kill her husband, beat the church, baffle the military, and get the court onside. The ten episode series also stars our dearest Gwilym Lee from Jamestown and Sebastian de Souza from Medici! 

NEW PERIOD SET SERIES TO EXPECT IN THE FIRST PART OF 2020: FROM NEW ZEALAND GOLD RUSH, POST NAPOLEONIC LONDON TO ARCTIC, RUSSIAN IMPERIAL COURT AND AGATHA CHRISTIE

     WINT/SPRING 2020 EPIC SHOWS

 THE LUMINARIES

 Arriving sometime very soon (probably sooner to New Zealand than to BBC) is the six episode adaptation of Eleanor Catton's book THE LUMINARIES starring Marton Csokas, Eva Green, Eve Hewson and Callan Mulvey. It is an adventure mystery set in the midst of New Zealand's 1860's gold rush. Expect a trailer very soon.

THE PALE HORSE
 BBC is entering the race first as it will start airing their latest  Agatha Christie series THE PALE HORSE from February 9th. Rufus Sewell leads the two episode mini series as the man who investigates a murder in a beautiful little village. Is a trio of witches responsible for a series of sudden deaths there or is there a rational explanation? You can expect a trailer very soon!

MISS SCARLET AND THE DUKE

 A&E will greet spring with new six part period set drama MISS SCARLET AND THE DUKE starring Kate Phillips as London's first Victorian female detective with Stuart Martin playing her partner. It will air on UKTV's Alibi channel and on PBS Masterpiece in USA. In Germany it will air on RTL, in Australia on Seven Network.

    THE NORTH WATER 
BBC will also grace us with Arctic set four episode thriller series THE NORTH WATER based on the novel by Ian McGuire. Colin Farrell and Jack O'Connell star in a story set in a 19th century whaling expedition to the Arctic where an army surgeon finds himself on an ill-fated journey with a murderous psychopath. In search of redemption, his story becomes a harsh struggle for survival in the Arctic wasteland.

BELGRAVIA

Easter will, meanwhile, bring us Julian Fellowes' new 19th century set costume drama BELGRAVIA set to air on Epix from April 12th and possibly a bit earlier on ITV in UK.  It follows events decades after a crucial ball ahead of the battle of Waterloo when the emerging nouveau riche, including the Trenchard family, rub shoulders with London's established upper classes, and when secrets from the past threaten to emerge.

     THE GREAT 
Hulu will meanwhile, end the spring season with three part historical comedy THE GREAT in which Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult play Catherine the Great and Peter of Russia. The series offers an anti-historical ride through 18th century Russia following the wildly comic rise of Catherine the Nothing to Catherine the Great. It is out May 15th.

HULU RELEASES FIRST TEASER AND PREMIERE DATE FOR HISTORICAL COMEDY MINI SERIES ON CATHERINE THE GREAT WITH ELLE FANNING, NICHOLAS HOULT

The series will stream from May 15th

'THE GREAT' TRAILER

FROM CATHERINE THE NOTHING TO CATHERINE THE GREAT

Hulu has released the first teaser and also the premiere date for their period set three part mini series THE GREAT on Russian Empress Catherine, but the unexpected element is that it was done in a form of comedy,  they say it is genre bending

Elle Fanning takes the comedic role of Catherine the Great

anti historical series! Not sure I like that. Anyhows, the series features Elle Fanning playing a royal woman living in rural Austria during the seventeenth

Nicholas Hoult plays Tzar Peter II in the three part historical comedy

century who is forced to choose between her own personal happiness and the future of Russia, when she marries future Russian Emperor Peter played by

Gwilym Lee plays Grigor Dymov in the series

magnetically gorgeous Nicholas Hoult. It will premiere May 15th! Phoebe Fox, Adam Godley, our dearest Jamestown star Gwilym Lee, Charity

In one of the juicy scenes, Medici star Sebastian De Souza will show his willy and peachy bums in front of the crazy emperor

Wakefield, Douglas Hodge and Sacha Shawan also star. Check out the unusual trailer below and tell us what you think, is it what you expected?

SEAN BEAN JOINS BBC'S WW2 SAGA WORLD ON FIRE! CLAES BANG TO LEAD BBC'S NEW DRACULA EPIC SERIES! GWILYM LEE JOINS RUSSIAN IMPERIAL COURT IN HULU'S CATHERINE THE GREAT EPIC SERIES!

 GWILYM LEE JOINS HULU'S 

CATHERINE THE GREAT SAGA

Gwilym Lee joins the series as Grigor

He was definitely our favourite guy in Sky's epic saga Jamestown and I bet you love him currently as Brian May in Bohemian Rhapsody, and now our dear Gwilym Lee is joining Hulu's THE GREAT mini series in which Elle Fanning is playing young Russian empress Catherine II. Gwilym will play Grigor, the best friend and confidant of Russian emperor Peter to be played by Nicholas Hoult in the series which is currently shooting in UK and will depict Catherine the Great’s rise to power and her explosive relationship with husband Peter whom she overthrew from the throne with the help of her lovers from the imperial guard only to become Russia's longest ruling tzarina who will widen its territory and population. Phoebe Fox, Sacha Dhawan and Charity Wakefield will also star in the mini series.

 CLAES BANG TO LEAD

BBC'S DRACULA MINI SERIES

Claes Bang will play famous Vlad Tepes

Over at BBC, they have found a lead actor for Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss written DRACULA series! Based partially on Bram Stoker's famous horror novel, it will see Danish actor Claes Bang putting on some fang as Lord Drac himself! The duo that brought you Sherlock series will also write and produce this one set in Transylvania in 1897, where the blood drinking Count Vlad is drawing his plans against Victorian London. As the producers say, hell has a new boss! Netflix will air the three 90 minute episode saga around the world with BBC airing it in UK and Ireland!

 SEAN BEAN JOINS

Blake Harrison has joined the cast

WORLD ON FIRE WW2 SERIES

BBC is also casting new faces for their ambitious new WW2 series WORLD ON FIRE which already has Lesley Manville, Jonah Hauer King, Helen Hunt and Julia Brown! Joining them now are Sean Bean, Last Kingdom's and Halcyon's Ewan Mitchell, Blake Harrison and Yrsa Daley Ward!

The ensemble series will follow different characters, from Harry, a young English translator in Warsaw caught up in negotiations with the Nazis and trying to smuggle his Polish lover Kasia out of the country, to Lois, the girl who is waiting for him at home, a young Mancunian factory worker who will come to take all the opportunities the war can offer to live a different kind of life. To Nancy, a female US war correspondent who can't find peace unless her life is at risk, to the Rossler family in Berlin, worried for their

Sean Bean has also joined the seven episode WW2 series

soldier son and willing to do anything to protect their disabled daughter from the attentions of the ruling Nazi regime.

ELLE FANNING AND NICHOLAS HOULT ARE CATHERINE 'THE GREAT' AND EMPEROR PETER OF RUSSIA IN HULU'S NEW EPIC MINI SERIES?

   'THE GREAT'

 HULU PREPARING MINI SERIES ON RUSSIAN EMPRESS CATHERINE

Elle Fanning will be Catherine the Great

Or not so great when you hear who wants to take the lead role. While Sky and HBO are preparing Helen Mirren mini series on the same topic, it seems Hulu is ready to order THE GREAT mini series on famous Russian Tzarina Catherine the Great starring Elle Fanning (Good Lord!) and Nicholas Hoult! She is, apparently, also producing the series which would describe the rise to power of Catherine the Great and her explosive relationship with husband Peter (Hoult), the emperor of Russia!

  A GERMAN PRINCESS ON THE RUSSIAN IMPERIAL THRONE

Nicholas Hoult will play the crazy Tsar Peter

As Deadline reports, Catherine, born Princess Sophie of Anhalt Zerbst, was the daughter of a Prussian general, who was introduced to the prospective tsar Peter of Holstein Gottorp when she was only 10 as part of European Royal families’ use of marriages as a tool for strengthening (and weakening) political ties between countries. Though she admitted to finding him detestable at first, the two eventually married after she had turned 16. Their union was tumultuous, with both rumoured to have extramarital affairs, and Peter’s temper becoming unbearable. Only six months into him ascending to the Russian throne, Catherine organized his opponents to overthrow him to start her successful 34-year rule. He was later on assassinated.