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‘The Great’ Season 2 Casts Gillian Anderson as Catherine the Great’s Mother

Gillian Anderson is joining the cast of “The Great” Season 2 at Hulu.

Anderson will appear in two episodes of the season as Joanna, the mother of Catherine (Elle Fanning). Joanna is a glamorous socialite from Germany, sometimes also known as the “maestro of marriage” for her abilities to arrange high profile partnerships for her daughters. She has heard rumors of her daughter’s coup and come to Russia to see it for herself. Though the apple of Catherine’s eye and a doting mother, it soon becomes clear Johanna has more sinister intentions to save her family’s reputation.

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Along with Fanning, Season 2 of the series will also star Nicholas Hoult, Phoebe Fox, Adam Godley, Gwilym Lee, Charity Wakefield, Douglas Hodge, Sacha Dhawan, Bayo Gbadamosi and Belinda Bromilow.

This marks the latest in a string of historical figures Anderson has played or will play recently. It was reported in February that she will appear as Eleanor Roosevelt in the upcoming Showtime anthology series “The First Lady.” That announcement came after her Golden Globe-winning turn as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in Season 4 of “The Crown” at Netflix. Anderson also currently stars in the Netflix comedy series “Sex Education.” She is best known for her starring role in the Fox supernatural procedural “The X-Files,” for which she won an Emmy and a Golden Globe. She also received Emmy, Golden Globe, and BAFTA nominations for “Bleak House.”

She is repped by Independent Talent Group and UTA.

“The Great” is a satirical dramedy about the rise of Catherine the Great from outsider to the longest-reigning female ruler in Russia’s history. The first season was a critical success for Hulu, earning Emmy, SAG Award, WGA Award, and Golden Globe nominations.

Tony McNamara created the series and serves as executive producer. Marian Macgowan, Thruline’s Josh Kesselman and Ron West, Echo Lake’s Brittany Kahan Ward, Doug Mankoff and Andrew Spaulding, Fanning, Hoult, Mark Winemaker, and Matt Shakman also executive produce. The series is produced Civic Center Media in association with MRC Television.

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