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  4. 'The Great' star Elle Fanning breaks down the season finale's last scene and explains how it came together: 'Catherine is free'

'The Great' star Elle Fanning breaks down the season finale's last scene and explains how it came together: 'Catherine is free'

Olivia Singh   

'The Great' star Elle Fanning breaks down the season finale's last scene and explains how it came together: 'Catherine is free'
  • Warning: There are major spoilers ahead for season three of Hulu's "The Great."
  • Elle Fanning, who plays Catherine the Great, spoke to Insider about the final scene of the season.

"The Great" star Elle Fanning weighed in on her character Catherine the Great's liberating dance number on the season three finale of Hulu's satirical period drama.

The 10-episode season, released on Friday, was filled with a mix of missteps and triumphs in Catherine's reign.

Most notably, Peter (played by Nicholas Hoult), the great and complicated love of her life, drowned in the lake in a freak accident during episode six. And in the aftermath, Catherine was forced to deal with Peter's lookalike, Pugachev, posing as her late husband and rallying people against her.

By the finale (titled "Once Upon a Time"), Catherine's a much more steely ruler than the doe-eyed girl who relocated to Russia with slightly delusional optimism and the unwavering belief that it was her destiny to lead Russia into a progressive era.

Now, she's ruling with her head, not her heart.

It's no surprise then that by the last scene of the finale, Catherine finally lets loose.

As a comet passes through Russia, Catherine is revealed to have short, neck-length hair instead of her long, wavy locks.

"Destiny didn't do it, I did it," she says before breaking into a solo dance set to AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" — a song Fanning picked out herself for the scene.

"That was my contribution because Tony had told me, 'I have this idea where I think we wanna end it and you just dance. Like, Catherine is free,'" Fanning told Insider, referring to creator and executive producer Tony McNamara.

"She's been grieving for so long and she has such weight on her," she added. "It's empowering and it's weird."

The Emmy-nominated actor said that she worked with the show's choreographer, Polly Bennett, to map out the dance and come up with moves that Fanning could incorporate throughout.

"I loved that day," Fanning recalled of filming the scene on set. "It was so fun because I had my new little short hair and I just felt like Catherine was so cleansed and she was stepping into a new role."

Fanning said that she performed the quirky dance number eight times "and each time I was in a corset." But the star didn't mind because, as she's come to realize, she "can do anything in a corset" on this series.

"It was so freeing and that is something that I do," she added. "I was like, 'What do I dance to when I'm alone?' And I'm like, 'Oh yeah, ACDC, that's right.' So luckily, Tony let us use that. They let us use that song and Tony liked it and I just let loose. It's a good way to end the season."

All episodes of season three of "The Great" are now streaming on Hulu.



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