When Billy Joel crooned that only the good die young, he was talking about Hulu’s The Great.
The satirical comedy from The Favourite scribe Tony McNamara has been canceled by the streaming platform after just three seasons, leaving fans grief-stricken. Starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult, the show was an absurdist exercise in historical re-telling, intentionally fudging the truth behind Catherine the Great’s (Fanning) rise to power after her marriage to the murderous spoiled man-child that was Peter III, the 18th-century Russian monarch overthrown just one year into his reign. And sure, there are plenty of great TV shows biting the dust because of piss-poor management decisions made by bloated egos in Brooks Brothers suits but this one stings — mostly because it sparked a delightfully unhinged era in Hoult’s cinematic career but also because it was a sharp, witty period romp with bizarre characters, lush costumes, and truly ridiculous storylines.
Werner Herzog once described civilization as the thin layer of ice atop a deep ocean of chaos and darkness. We’ve never felt closer to that lawless void than right now. Faced with the reality that making good art is futile because streamers can shelf entire masterpieces on a whim — and with the possibility that we may never again witness Hoult toss a Pomeranian off a balcony for the sake of scientific advancement — we’ll now leave you to mourn the death of this underrated TV gem with a collection of tweets that should, hopefully, catapult you to the next stage of the grieving process: the part where we assemble a dozen Molotov cocktails to launch at Hulu’s headquarters. Huzzah!
https://twitter.com/koralinadean/status/1696943101384806618
I ask this sincerely but how is it possible that studios are this out of tune with audiences? Cancelling brilliant TV and then keeping around other nonsense. It's like they're allergic to their own success and longevity.
Maddening. https://t.co/S4s8QgpKIX
— ayan. (@artan_ayan) August 30, 2023
[Nicholas Hoult voice] “Oh, fuck off.” https://t.co/4SqdJzMgdd
— Darren Mooney (@Darren_Mooney) August 30, 2023
without exaggerating, this is the worst thing to happen to television as a genre https://t.co/pYMhicPIu7
— ham yoyo 🚀💫 (@scifibis) August 30, 2023
nearest cliff to throw myself off google search https://t.co/7qNmsPT81A
— pipa (taylor's version) ✿ (@oflittleczarina) August 30, 2023
God damn it. https://t.co/MxoEX2TIae pic.twitter.com/5QCFIxhXon
— Jack (@jacktweetslife) August 30, 2023
CANCELLING THE GREAT IS A CRIME THIS SHOW WAS COMEDIC EXCELLENCE pic.twitter.com/Q4USiYKhSZ
— devilette¹⁷ (@deviIette) August 30, 2023
#TheGreat was a show that let Nicholas Hoult deliver utterly ridiculous lines like this. There will never be another show like it. pic.twitter.com/7jlSLHWwH6
— Constantly Worrying, Darling (@jessica_toomer) August 30, 2023