SKY & HBO MAKING 'CATHERINE THE GREAT' RUSSIAN 18TH CENTURY EMPRESS MINI TV SERIES WITH HELEN MIRREN! PARAMOUNT TV TURNS MARGARET ATWOOD'S 'MADDADDAM' SF SAGA INTO TV SERIES

While they're currently enjoying the success of their Roman era series Britannia, which has been sold in over 120 countries around the world, and while we're waiting for the second season of their epic saga Jamestown to start in two weeks, British Sky Atlantic has just commissioned a new historical series CATHERINE THE GREAT and they hired Helen Mirren to lead the cast as the legendary Russian empress who came to power by throwing down her insane husband and then went on to make Russia's territory bigger than it ever was before! There were recently two series over in Russia on her!

The four part saga about the 18th century monarch will start shooting later this year written by Nigel Williams (Elizabeth I) and directed by Philip Martin (The Crown)! The story will depict Catherine at the end of her reign and her affair with Grigory Potemkin. HBO will air it in USA.

Paramount TV is producing the new series

And while you're waiting for the 2nd season of A Handmaid's Tale and watching Alias Grace, another of Margaret Atwood's works will be turned into TV series - her sf trilogy MADDADDAM! It is a story of a global pandemic and the end of mankind, and the small group of survivors who are left to shepherd a new race to inherit the world. The series follows Jimmy, a young boy disillusioned with the all powerful corporations who rule civilization, whose best friend will develop the drug that wipes out humanity; Toby and Ren, two members of the cult “God’s Gardeners” who fight to survive on the margins of society; and Zeb, one of the founders of “God’s Gardeners.”