Helen Mirren doesn’t need to play an empress to prove that she rules. But it doesn’t hurt. Mirren stars as the legendary Catherine the Great, one of history’s most powerful — and according to this HBO limited series, most passionate — monarchs. Watch the Catherine the Great trailer below.

Catherine the Great Trailer

Helen Mirren stars as the strong-willed and seductive Catherine the Great, the monarch who ruled during Russia’s Golden Era and had a notoriously rocky marriage with Peter III. The project came about almost by accident — Mirren had said in an interview that she would one day like to play the empress, and producers David Thompson and Charles Pattinson quickly stepped up to make that dream come true. The result: a four-part miniseries that dives into Catherine the Great’s machinations in both the war room and the bedroom. Yes, this is a very sexy series.

The limited series cast also includes Jason Clarke (The Chicago Code) as Catherine’s lover Grigory Potemkin, Gina McKee (The Rook) as Countess Praskovya Bruce, Rory Kinnear (Penny Dreadful: City of Angels) as Nikita Ivanovich Panin, Joseph Quinn (Les Miserables) as Tsarevich Pavel, Richard Roxburgh (Rake) as Grigory Orlov, Kevin McNally (TURN: Washington’s Spies) as Alexei Orlov, Thomas Doherty (Legacies) as Pyotr Zavadovsky, Sam Palladio (Nashville) as Alexander Vasilchikov, Clive Russell (Game of Thrones) as The Fool, Paul Ritter (Chernobyl) as Alexander Suvorov, and Paul Kaye (Thrones) as Yemelyan Pugachev.

Here is the synopsis for Catherine the Great:

Oscar-winner Helen Mirren will lead miniseries Catherine the Great as the tumultuous monarch and politician who ruled the Russian empire and transformed its place in the world in the 18th century. The four-part historical drama will follow the end of Catherine’s reign and her affair with Russian military leader Grigory Potemkin that helped shape the future of Russian politics.

Catherine the Great premieres on HBO on October 21, 2019 at 10 p.m.

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