Ahead of the highly anticipated release of the Netflix original series Marco Polo this week, The Fan Carpet’s Marc Jason Ali had the pleasure of sitting down with Benedict Wong and Lorenzo Richelmy who play Kublai Khan and the titular Marco Polo respectively to talk about the series which will premiere on Friday, December 12 at 12:01am PT in all regions where Netflix is available.
In a world replete with greed, betrayal, sexual intrigue and rivalry, Marco Polo, starring newcomer Lorenzo Richelmy, is based on the famed explorer’s adventures in Kublai Khan’s court in 13th century China.
The sweeping drama’s ten episodes were shot in Italy, Kazakhstan and Malaysia. The global cast includes Richelmy, Benedict Wong (Prometheus), Joan Chen (Twin Peaks), Chin Han (Arrow, The Dark Knight), Zhu Zhu (Cloud Atlas), Olivia Cheng (The Flash, Broken Trail), Claudia Kim (Avengers: Age of Ultron), Mahesh Jadu (Neighbours), Tom Wu (Skyfall), Remy Hii (Treading Water), Uli Latukefu (Devil’s Playground) and Rick Yune (Olympus Has Fallen, The Fast and the Furious). John Fusco, who wrote the Academy-Award nominated feature Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, created the series and is executive producer and showrunner along with Dan Minahan, whose previous work includes Homeland and Game of Thrones. Academy-Award nominated directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales) directed the first two hours and serve as executive producers. Marco Polo is produced by Netflix and The Weinstein Company.
