Hulu has just released another season of the Emmy Award-winning series, The Great. Deaths are not new in The Great because murder is how people solve their problems, which is why Catherine decides to outlaw murder in the third episode.
But this season notably had a lot of surprises and shocking events, like the deaths of three major characters. So, who dies in The Great Season 3?
Orlo, Peter III, and Pugachev die in The Great Season 3. Additionally, Velementov and Archie nearly die in the latest season. This article discusses the deaths of these characters in The Great Season 3.
Table of Contents
- Did Peter III Really Die? Peter’s Death Explained
- Will Catherine Find Out About Orlo’s Death? Orlo’s Death Explained
- Pugachev’s Uprising and Death Explained
- Does Velementov Survive in The Great Season 3?
- Did Archie Die? Archie’s “Death” Explained
- The Great Season 3 Ending Explained: What Happens to Catherine?
Did Peter III Really Die? Peter’s Death Explained
While deaths are expected in The Great, Peter’s death was a shocking one because he’s a lead character in the series and his death occurred in the middle of the season.
In The Great Season 3, Peter accepts that he is no longer the ruler of Russia and becomes busy being a good father and husband. However, he struggles with having to prove himself after the ghost of Peter the Great appears to him and reminds him of the failure he’s become.
So, Peter asks Catherine if he could be head of the army so that he will be known as a great military leader. However, Catherine refuses after Peter messed things up for Sweden.
Additionally, Hugo, the King of Sweden, convinces Peter to gather Russia’s troops and let them ride into battle to take back Sweden. He even tells Peter that his legacy is “the man who lost Russia to the woman who lost Russia.”
So, to prove himself as a capable leader, Peter steals Catherine's army and sends them into battle to take back Sweden. But before the battle could actually occur, he is stopped by Catherine (thanks to Grigor who informed her about Peter’s whereabouts).
Peter crosses a frozen lake to talk to Catherine and convince her to allow him to send Russian troops to take back Sweden. He explains that doing so would allow him to have a legacy, other than being known as someone who messed up his reign.
Peter then leaves on horseback, but while crossing the frozen lake, he sinks into the freezing water. Grigor tries to save Peter but fails. Catherine becomes mad and convinces herself that Peter is not dead.
While there may be questions as to Peter’s death, Elizabeth and Petrov go back to the frozen lake to retrieve Peter’s body. However, Elizabeth chooses to leave him there after seeing that Peter looks peaceful. This confirms that Peter did indeed die.
In an interview with Collider, actor Nicholas Hoult shared his thoughts about Peter’s death. Hoult said:
“I thought it was a beautiful way for him to go, to be honest. I think everyone probably expected some sort of violent end, but the simplicity of it and the fact that it’s not caused by any outside parties, particularly, and is caused partly by his own folly, the scene in the build up to that was just one of the best written scenes I’ve ever read. To wrap up all of Peter’s relationship in those five or eight minutes, or whatever it is before then, was just a really special thing. It was perfectly pitched, I think.”
Additionally, showrunner Tony McNamara said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that he and Hoult already talked about Peter’s death at the end of Season 1, and he somehow knew that Peter’s death would happen in Season 3.
Will Catherine Find Out About Orlo’s Death? Orlo’s Death Explained
Orlo is one of the major characters in the series as he helps Catherine overthrow her husband and take over Russia. Without Orlo, Catherine would not have been successful in the coup.
Thinking Catherine killed Peter at the end of The Great Season 2, Orlo celebrates and announces Peter’s death. However, his happiness is cut short when he finds out Peter is still alive.
This angers Orlo and he tells Catherine that while he thought she would be a great change, she’s just a “foolish, lovesick child.” Figuring out that Catherine would not kill Peter, Orlo decides to do it himself.
He follows Peter and Catherine to the woods and hides behind a tree, waiting to shoot Peter. Catherine hears a sound and shoots, thinking it is a deer.
But the bullet hits Orlo’s head. Catherine then walks away with Peter without knowing that she has killed Orlo. Orlo’s body then gets eaten by bears.
One question that has yet to be answered is if Catherine will ever find out that she killed Orlo. Throughout the season, she looks for him, but people just assumed that he left.
Thus, Catherine decides to move on thinking that Orlo was just upset with her. However, considering that Orlo’s body gets eaten by bears, it’s unlikely that anyone, including Catherine, will ever find out that he died.
Talking about Orlo’s death, McNamara shared with Entertainment Weekly that actor Sacha Dhawan wanted to move on and felt like it was the right time for him to do so. As to how Orlo died, McNamara said that he “liked him kicking off this season with such a strange and funny, dark kind of ending to [episode] 1” since that’s the world they live in.
Pugachev’s Uprising and Death Explained
Pugachev, Peter’s look-alike (Nicholas Hoult with bad teeth), pretends to be Peter and leads an uprising that seeks to overthrow Catherine. He becomes a threat as his supporters (which include Archie and Arkady) grow each day.
Catherine chooses not to kill Pugachev because killing him would make people think that she killed her own husband, Peter. Pugachev’s absence could also cause challenges to Catherine’s legitimacy as nobles would try to replace Pugachev.
All this is possible because Pugachev looks like Peter. Catherine tries to get into an agreement with Pugachev, but Maxim shoots him before the plan could actually take place.
Talking about Pugachev’s death, Mcnamara shared with Entertainment Weekly that Nicholas Hoult “wasn’t going to do Pugachev forever.” Thus, Hoult may not be returning for another season of The Great considering that the two characters he played died.
However, since ghosts exist in The Great (like Peter the Great), McNamara said he’d “never say never to having Nick Hoult around.”
Does Velementov Survive in The Great Season 3?
The start of Season 3 seemingly teased that Velementov would die in the season. In The Great Season 3, the General appears to be dying of an illness. In episode 3, Catherine sees Velementov coughing, and the latter reveals that he’s been coughing up an amount of blood each day.
Catherine suggests that he should take time away from his duties, but Velementov refuses, saying that all he has is his duties. Catherine allows him to continue with his job.
Catherine hugs Velementov and kisses his forehead. She then suggests that he should drink less alcohol and go see Dr. Vinodel.
Velementov survives throughout the whole season, but at the season finale, Catherine appoints 11-year-old Maxim as the future head of the army, to which Velementov responds, “Oh, come on. He’s four.”
Did Archie Die? Archie’s “Death” Explained
At the start of the season, Catherine asks Elizabeth and Archie to be her advisers and school her in political dealings. However, Archie betrays Catherine by working with Pugachev, and such a fact is revealed by Marial.
So, at the end of The Great Season 3, Catherine asks her guards to beat Archie up, rip his beard from his face, bury him alive, and piss on his grave. The guards do so, but later on, Marial digs the grave and Archie is revealed to be alive.
Thus, Archie could still be a potential adversary in another season of The Great considering that he never really favored Catherine becoming the ruler of Russia.
The Great Season 3 Ending Explained: What Happens to Catherine?
In the final scene of Season 3, Catherine chops her hair and dances around in a black dress. She then breaks down and cries.
The ending of The Great Season 3 shows that Catherine will still continue to lead Russia even without Peter, but it may not be easy at first considering she no longer has her husband supporting her by her side.
McNamara shared with Entertainment Weekly that Season 3 is “not an ending, but a rebirth in a way for her [Catherine] as a character.” Commenting on Catherine’s character development, actress Elle Fanning said in an interview with Collider:
“The way that the season ends and her dance and how she cuts her hair, she’s reborn and she’s changed so much. Each season, she always changes, but this time, she’s really prepared to step into herself, on her own. The whole series, she has always had Peter, and now, she has to actually let him go, to be able to be the leader that she needs to be.”
Thus, we can expect to see a stronger version of Catherine the Great in another season of The Great.
RELATED: Who Does Grigor End Up With in The Great Season 3?
The Great is available to stream on Hulu.