Top 10 Most Intriguing Characters on The Great

Hulu’s hilarious, raunchy satire The Great succeeds in large part due to the strength of its characters. The show’s first season introduces us to a number of memorable figures in Peter’s court, from gossiping countesses to self-immolating priests. 

While there are plenty of straightforward archetypes roaming the halls of the palace, the principal cast is composed of characters who keep us guessing. Their motivations gradually come into focus as the plot unfolds, piquing our interest in their journeys through future seasons.

Here are our top ten most intriguing characters on The Great. Beware of spoilers below!

1. General Velementov

Velementov is the primary subject of Peter’s ridicule, mostly because the jokes are obvious and easy. He’s the classic shell-shocked war veteran, a melancholic and humorless drunk who Peter sees as a relic from an outdated culture.

Dropping such an earnest person in the midst of Peter’s court — a place full of frenzied behavior and crude humor — is the cruelest joke of all for a man like Velementov. He’s one of the few people of integrity left to counsel the young emperor, but more often than not he gets laughed out of the room.

Velementov has a lot of endearing qualities, but his behavior is far from perfect. His obsession with Catherine, for example, is charming and funny until it turns into sexual assault.

Still, Velementov proves that Catherine can rely on his political support, and perhaps the old soldier is capable of winning one more war for his country.

2. Leo Voronksy

The son of a famous ladies’ man, Leo is undeniably swoon-worthy. He’s the perfect foil to Peter as a lover — gentle, thoughtful, and absolutely devoted to Catherine’s happiness.

On the surface, Leo isn’t quite as complex as most of the show’s prominent characters. His role seems straightforward and simple, and his departure is therefore unsurprising.

But given how important Leo was to Catherine, we can’t help but wonder if we’ve actually seen the last of him. Might he have some further role to play in the story? For the empress’s sake, we hope so! 

3. Count Orlo

Orlo goes on quite the character journey over the course of The Great‘s first season.

After stumbling into a war zone and having a very personal and violent encounter, gentle-mannered Orlo taps into a grim new sense of resolve. He’s a different person by the end of the season than he was at the beginning, having shed his moral rigidity in favor of political reform by any means necessary.

These changes in Orlo are sad to watch, but they help outline the argument that enlightened thinking does not always yield the desired results in practice.

The greatest challenge for an idealist is figuring out how to adjust one’s principles to reflect reality, and Orlo struggles to do so without losing perspective on his mission. It’s an eternally relevant predicament, and we can’t wait to see how it plays out in season 2.

4. Grigor Dymov

When we first meet Grigor he seems shallow and obnoxious. He behaves like a stereotypical frat bro, laughing at Peter’s unfunny jokes and participating in his cruel pranks. Grigor is, essentially, the emperor’s hype man.

But as the season goes on, we begin to see how much this easygoing facade costs Grigor emotionally. He doesn’t actually find Peter’s jokes that funny, and he is certainly not happy about Peter’s ongoing affair with his wife. 

Gwilym Lee does a wonderful job peeling back the layers of his character, revealing Grigor’s internal conflict little by little until we realize that he’s just as trapped as he is privileged.

For a character that didn’t initially seem to have much depth, Grigor becomes one of the more complex and sympathetic figures in Peter’s court.

5. Georgina Dymov

Georgina is one of Peter’s staunchest allies, mostly because she understands what his friendship is worth as political capital.

She’s a classic example of someone who wields her femininity as a weapon — or rather, as a delicate instrument. Everything she does is calculated to enhance her family’s favor in the eyes of the emperor.

But rather than coming off as conniving or manipulative, Georgina is endlessly likable. She’s even-tempered but never cruel; she simply does what must be done, and won’t let anyone shame her for it.

The way she handles Grigor’s sense of betrayal at her actions is impressively tactful; she’s patient but firm, sympathizing with his feelings but not giving ground.

In a show full of emotional chaos, Georgina’s stabilizing presence is a very welcome exception.

6. Archie

At first glance Archie seems as selfish and untrustworthy as anyone at court. His behavior toward Catherine is suspect from the beginning, as he encourages her to submit to Peter’s whims and refrain from voicing her own ideas.

It’s hard to summon much fondness for such a big proponent of the patriarchy, and Catherine’s annoyance with him is well deserved.

At the same time, Marial genuinely believes that Archie is a good man. He seems caring and protective of her, which gives us some hope that Marial might be able to broker an alliance between her uncle and the empress in the future.

Perhaps the enemy of Catherine’s enemy could become her friend.

7. Marial

As Catherine’s closest friend, Marial often feels like the audience’s stand-in. Her wry observations help orient us to the ways of Peter’s court, and she gives voice to our frustration when Catherine takes too long to act.

It’s easy to like Marial, with her bold wit and her unshakeable determination. But her impulsivity can be frustrating, and some of Catherine’s best-laid plans are knocked askew by Marial’s decision to take matters into her own hands. 

Still, Marial has the clearest sense of justice of anyone on the show. She consistently demands that people be held accountable for their actions, even when those people are her friends. 

She can be petty sometimes, but honestly who doesn’t enjoy seeing bitter enemies get what they deserve?

8. Peter

Catherine offers a rather generous description of Peter toward the start of the series, calling him mercurial and complex. We wouldn’t blame her if she called him something much worse, given how self-centered and childish he is. 

But the most remarkable storytelling trick of The Great is how the show manages to make us care about Peter, despite depicting him as an unfit ruler and an unkind person. It’s impossible not to feel his pain when he discovers Catherine’s betrayal, and that turnaround largely hinges on Nicholas Hoult’s excellent performance.

He imbues his character with a boyish charm that feels earnest rather than manipulative. For all his faults, Peter genuinely wants to be loved; he just goes about it the wrong way. 

Peter starts off as the character we love to hate but ultimately becomes the character we hate to love. 

9. Catherine

As the show’s protagonist, Catherine is perfectly written as a character we root for but still feel frustrated by. She’s kind and endearing but has plenty of flaws, and the show isn’t shy about exploring them. 

Perhaps the greatest challenge The Great faces in setting up its story is convincing us that Catherine, an outsider, has a legitimate claim to the throne. As numerous characters point out, she isn’t even Russian — she’s just a woman with a lot of ideas.

But if the men are incompetent and unimaginative, why shouldn’t a young idealist get her chance to design a country’s future?

We come to believe in Catherine’s claim because, despite her German birth, she possesses a humility that most of the courtiers do not. When a system is broken, the best place to look for solutions maybe somewhere outside of that corrupt environment — and there’s no denying the air of change that the new empress has brought to St. Petersburg.

10. Elizabeth 

With all due respect to Catherine, it simply must be said: Elizabeth is the ruler Russia deserves. 

A beloved bisexual aunt, a butterfly-tamer, a woman who’s not afraid to personally slit a few throats when the situation calls for it — what more could Russia want in an imperial figurehead? 

Elizabeth plays the role of the madwoman well, but only to make herself seem unthreatening. In reality, she’s politically astute and emotionally perceptive. She cares about her nephew Peter, but she also sees him for what he is — a threat to the stability and prosperity of the country. 

Historically, Elizabeth did rule in Russia for about twenty years, so we’re not giving up hope on her reign just yet. 

In the meantime, her advice will be invaluable to whomever she chooses to support in the conflict between Peter and Catherine. She may be flying under the radar, but she’s the most formidable player in the game.

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Which character on The Great is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below! 

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