Huzzah! Tony McNamara On Adapting His Own Play for Hulu’s ‘The Great’

Hulu’s The Great is a history lesson turned on its head, and no one does that type of storytelling like Tony McNamara. His script for The Favourite was one of the most lauded screenplays in the last ten years, and he has an effortless knack for charging history with a dark, twisted humor that makes any kind of school lesson more bearable. With The Great, McNamara set his sights on chronicling the rise of Catherine the Great, and he provides us yet again with pointed, intelligent writing.

Adapting your own play must be an intimidating task, but McNamara was excited to expand on this royal world. Focusing on women in power was something that he is fascinated with, and he also detailed about writing about dangerous men in power.

All history lessons should be taught with wit and a twist of the pen. I think we can all agree that McNamara would be the perfect professor.

Awards Daily: I’m sure a lot of people are talking about this because The Favourite was such a success for you. What do you like about writing for women in power?

Tony McNamara: In doing a period show, what appeals is this outsider point of view. Women didn’t have power but women managed to get power in a very patriarchal society and managed to find their way to power and use it. What interests me is the how the human spirit plays with coming into a system that disallows them and then these women take over. Who are those people?

AD: I didn’t know that the show was based on your own play until after I watched all ten episodes. What were your biggest challenges in expanding it? Were you excited to have more breathing room?

TM: The play itself isn’t very long, so I got to do more things with the show that I didn’t get to do with the play. I didn’t have the capacity. I grew up in the theater but I think TV gave me an opportunity to expand the world and the characters and go on a journey with the characters that took time. I could explore Catherine more than I ever could with the play. I didn’t think that I had much of a challenge. I really embraced it. I was so excited.

AD: I love how it feels very lean but there is so much information and plot. We never feel overstuffed and we never feel overwhelmed.

TM: Yes.

AD: I had the privilege to speak with Elle [Fanning], and she told me that you don’t set out to write jokes. Is a dangerous, political world innately funny now?

TM: I never set out to write jokes. I just write out what the characters would do. In script, everything is built in character. It can be dramatic and truthful or funny and truthful—it’s all the same thing. A dark political world has an edge of humor to it.

AD: I love how Peter is written because I laugh at him one second, and then I’m terrified of him the next. Maybe it’s just because I am an American and stupid people in power scare me. Tell me about dumb, dangerous men in power.

TM: There have always been people like that in the world. I guess I created that character a long time ago. I was interested in exploring the idea of people who receive power. It’s just given to Peter for no particular reason. There’s no criteria. He has power and he wants power, but he doesn’t know what he wants to do with it. He is this unmalicious kid, in a way, even though he’s dangerous. He’s dangerous because of that. He doesn’t know how to respond to something. Even if his first instinct is okay, if pushed into a corner, he comes out lashing out. That seems to be a very male, entitled, don’t challenge kind of vibe.

AD: I love how the bear is brought up throughout the show. A bear is given to Catherine at her wedding, and she has a vision of a bear falling on top of her in the finale. I asked Elle this, too, because I was curious from both of your perspectives. Is Catherine trying to become a bear or tame a bear?

TM: Wow. If I had to choose one, I’d probably say she’s trying to tame it. I think so. She wants a bear in a very kid-like way. It’s a youthful, naïve thing.

AD: What do you want to explore with a second season?

TM: I don’t want to give anything away, Joey!

AD: (Laughs)

TM: It’s going to be more of the relationship between Catherine and Peter and what power costs.

The Great is streaming now on Hulu.