General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

Marco Polo (2014 TV series)

Marco Polo is an American historical drama television series that streamed on Netflix from December 12, 2014, to 2016, dramatizing the Venetian merchant Marco Polo's years at the 13th-century court of the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan. Produced by The Weinstein Company, it ran for two seasons of ten episodes each and was Netflix's most expensive series at the time of its premiere, with a reported first-season budget of $90 million.¹^•²^•³

Key fact	Detail
Network and run	Netflix; season 1 premiered December 12, 2014; season 2 premiered July 1, 2016; canceled after two seasons¹^•⁴
Production	The Weinstein Company; executive producers John Fusco, Daniel Minahan, Patrick Macmanus, Harvey Weinstein, Bob Weinstein, and Elizabeth Sarnoff¹
Lead cast	Lorenzo Richelmy as Marco Polo, Benedict Wong as Kublai Khan, Joan Chen as Empress Chabi, Zhu Zhu as Kokachin, Tom Wu as Hundred Eyes, Remy Hii as Prince Jingim⁵^•⁴
Budget	Reported $90 million for the first ten episodes; combined cost of both seasons topped $200 million²^•⁶
Filming	Pinewood Studios in Malaysia, plus Kazakhstan and Italy; producers could not get permission to film in China⁷^•¹
Reception	Season 1 scored 32% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (44 reviews) against a 92% audience score; Metacritic Metascore 48⁸^•⁹
Cancellation	Announced December 12, 2016; the first Netflix original series not to reach a third season⁶

Spoilers

Premise and cast

The series follows the young Marco Polo, who as a youth of 15 or 16 meets his father and uncle and travels thousands of miles across the Silk Road to the court of Kublai Khan in what is now Beijing, where he becomes entangled in warfare and political and sexual intrigue as the Khan pursues his ambition to rule all China.¹^•¹⁰ The first season opens with Marco left by his merchant father as a gift, servant, or hostage for the Khan in hopes of winning access to the Silk Road trade.²

International cast. The show assembled a global roster: Italian actor Lorenzo Richelmy played Marco Polo, and British actor Benedict Wong played Kublai Khan. The ensemble included Zhu Zhu, Tom Wu, Remy Hii, and Rick Yune, with Joan Chen as Empress Chabi, Olivia Cheng as Mei Lin, Claudia Kim as Khutulun, Mahesh Jadu as Ahmad, and Uli Latukefu as Byamba.⁵^•⁴ The second season added Michelle Yeoh as the Handmaiden.⁴

Production history

The project began at Starz, which announced it at the January 2012 Television Critics Association press tour, with John Fusco, writer of the film Hidalgo, as executive producer and writer. Starz ran into trouble filming in China, and Netflix picked up the rights.¹¹^•¹² Production was underway by April 2014, with the nine-episode first chapter (later delivered as ten episodes) shooting at the new Pinewood Studios in Malaysia and on location in Kazakhstan and Italy.⁷^•¹³

Directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, whose film Kon-Tiki had been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, were attached to helm the series, alongside Daniel Minahan.⁷ Fusco served as showrunner with Minahan; Patrick Macmanus, Harvey Weinstein, Bob Weinstein, and Elizabeth Sarnoff were also executive producers.⁴

Reception

Critical response was mixed to negative for the first season. Rotten Tomatoes recorded a 32% Tomatometer from 44 reviews for season 1, with a critics' consensus calling the show "an all-around disappointment," while audience ratings were far warmer at 92%.⁸ Metacritic gave the season a Metascore of 48, labeled mixed or average, from 22 critic reviews.⁹ Reviewers praised the production values: Time called the vistas stupendous and the sets and costumes gorgeous, while faulting the dialogue and the show's lurching between court intrigue and pulp spectacle.² The Washington Post found the series so plodding it was practically binge-proof.¹⁴ Season 2 fared far better with critics, reaching 100% on the Tomatometer, and the series' overall average stood at 66% from critics and 93% from audiences.¹

Viewers responded more favorably than critics, and Netflix renewed the show for a second season.¹⁰

Historical liberties

The producers freely admitted to playing with facts and the timeline.² A Foreign Policy review, citing Christopher Atwood, a professor of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University Bloomington, noted that the fictional Marco saves Kublai from ninja-like assassins and provides crucial intelligence against his brother Ariq's treachery, even though Ariq historically died when Marco Polo was 12; the review also observed that dialogue is conducted almost entirely in English apart from a smattering of Chinese, Farsi, and Mongolian.¹⁵ Common Sense Media noted that although historical tidbits appear, facts generally take a backseat to visuals and improbable plot twists drawn from The Travels of Marco Polo, the 13th-century travel account that inspired the series.¹⁶

Cancellation and legacy

Netflix canceled the series on December 12, 2016, after two seasons, making it the first Netflix original series not to reach a third season; the decision was mutual between Netflix and The Weinstein Company.⁶ The Hollywood Reporter claimed the show was a $200 million loss for Netflix, and Fusco's writers' room had already written ten hours of a third season when the announcement came.¹⁷ The show ended on a cliffhanger without a proper conclusion.¹⁸

The Game of Thrones comparison. Before release, producer Harvey Weinstein compared the series to Game of Thrones, a comparison Fusco later said was "the biggest single blow to any chance our show had," made three years before the New York Times exposed Weinstein's history of rape and sexual assault.¹⁷ Critics repeatedly measured the show against HBO's fantasy epic, generally to its disadvantage.²^•¹² Despite the cancellation, the series retained a devoted following, and Fusco has said that fans still email him with favorite characters and spin-off ideas.¹⁷

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026