She’sno stranger to playing a monarch or two, and Helen Mirren has just been announced to star in a new Catherine the Great mini-series.

The show will be a Sky/HBO co-production, charting the rise of the Russian ruler during the 18th century. The series will dip into Catherine’s life towards the end of her reign.

Mirren said: “I am very excited by the possibility of embodying a woman from history who grabbed and then wielded great power. She rewrote the rules of governance by a woman, and succeeded to the extent of having the word Great attached to her name.”

According to Deadline, it was Mirren who actually pitched the idea to Origin Pictures, calling it the “part she’d always wanted to play”.

“We are jubilant about having Helen Mirren back on HBO, playing the iconic Russian empress and joining this distinguished team of British filmmakers,” said Kary Antholis, present of HBO miniseries and Cinemax programming.

Catherine the Great will air on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV in the UK next year.