Is The Great based on a true story?

When it comes to historical fiction, we like to know if there is any truth to the story. For three seasons, we watched The Great, but was it based on truth?

If you’re watching a TV series that involves people who lived in history, you likely expect historical fact. In fact, there are a lot of shows praised for the way they involve real history, such as Outlander. There are others where some conversations are written in but the bulk is fact, like The Crown.

There are even stories where they’re so far in the past that the truth can’t be verified fully, but could be some what historically accurate as possible like Vikings and The Last Kingdom. Then there are the shows that are sort of set in a real historical story, like The Tudors and Reign.

The Great brought us the story of Catherine the Great as she finds herself in a strange new country. Is the series based on truth?

The Great is a satirical look at history

If you’re going into the series expecting something based on true history, then you’ll want to give The Great a skip. While there are a lot of character names you’ll recognize from Russia’s long history, the story itself isn’t all that factual.

The series has never promised to be factual, though. In fact, many of the episodes saw the show’s title written as The Great: An Occasionally True Story. There is even one episode where the title changes to The Great: An Almost Entirely Untrue Story.

It’s very loosely based on the rise of Catherine the Great. There are elements that had to remain true to the historical fact, such as Catherine coming to Russia, struggling with her marriage to Peter, and her pregnancy. There is, of course, Peter’s death, which is something that happened in real life.

A lot of the talk of the coop and some of the comedic elements of the story aren’t real, though. They’re just a fun take on history, and that’s what the series wanted you to have: fun.

The Great is available to stream on Hulu.