Netflix cancels 'Marco Polo' teleseries

The Asian and Asian/American cast of 'Marco Polo' will be missed.

THE BAD NEWS is that the grand, epic Marco Polo teleseries has been cancelled after two seasons. The good news is that a whole host of AAPI actors are now free to sign up for new projects.

Netflix opted to cancel the third season of the historical drama about the intrigue and sex surrounding the 13th century court of Mongol conquerer Kublai Khan.

"We want to thank and are grateful to our partners on Marco Polo from the actors, whose performances were enthralling and top-notch; to the committed producers, including John Fusco, Dan Minahan, Patrick Macmanus, and their crew, who poured their hearts into the series; and of course Harvey (Weinstein), David (Glasser) and our friends at TWC, who were great collaborators from start to finish," Netflix vp original content Cindy Holland said Monday in a statement.

A couple of months ago, showrunner John Fusco said the cast was ready and committed to continue into the third season, which would center around the death of the great Khan.

Executive producer Fusco and TWC's Harvey Weinstein are working on an idea "in a similar space," which raised speculation that they might move to another network. Fusco and his team are presumed to be discussing the issue with HBO's Richard Plepler, AMC's Josh Sapan, A+E's Nancy Dubuc and NBC Universal's Bonnie Hammer.

RELATED:

• Go East, young man
• AAPI actors shine in Marco Polo

Weinstein Co. co-chairman Weinstein, who with Fusco hinted they would soon be reteaming for another similarly themed drama in the works, added: "Netflix has been incredible to give us the room to make a series with a cast true to every principle of diversity. It’s a bold network that allows you to do that and support us in the way that Netflix did. As many people know, Asian history and the world of martial arts have fascinated me for all of my career — I’ve made many movies around these topics and this genre, and now this TV show I’m so proud of. John has been a great partner and we're both fascinated to continue exploring this exciting period in history on future projects together." 

Marco Polo was a unique product and there might not ever be another TV series like it again with its huge Asian and Asian/American cast with a storyline where the lone white actor is not the focus of most of the plotlines. The show introduced U.S. audiences to a plethora of AAPI talent, including the wonderful Benedict Wong, who played Kublai Khan, Zhu Zhu, Olivia Cheng, Claudia Kim, Tom Wu, veterans Joan Chen, Rick Yune and Michelle Yeoh  and a whole slew of other actors proving (once and for all) that there is no lack of AAPI talent if producers and casting agents bother to look.

Marco Polo had some serious flaws, but the show deserves a place in AAPI entertainment history for showing - all in one show - a wide range of Asians (Mongols, Indians, Chinese, Korean, Muslim, Christian, men, women, schemers, warriors, lovers). 

In a rare opportunity, non-Asian audiences were able to see a wide range of Asian characters with complex backgrounds and personalities demonstrating that if U.S. audiences were given the chance to see Asian characters as imperfect individuals, fear and cheer them as individuals - instead of seeing them as one huge amorphous, anonymous "other."

Set in China, Marco Polo showed American audiences that the history of the world did not center around Europe. While most of Europe was emerging from the Dark Ages, advanced and complex civilizations were thriving in Asia.

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Review: 'Marco Polo' on Netflix is bigger, better as its AAPI actors take over

Benedict Wong as Kublai Khan and a cast of thousands in Netflix's "Marco Polo."

WITH VERY LITTLE fanfare, Marco Polo, the dazzling epic television series, debuted its second season on Netflix over the Independence Day weekend.

If you have been following the #OscarsSoWhite or #WhitewashedOut controversy and want to see more Asians in television and the movies, this series Asians and Pacific Islanders - thousands of them.

If you want martial arts, this show has the best one-on-one choreographed fighting since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

If you want palace intrigue, complicated plots, back-stabbing or ...

If you're just suffering from Game of Throne withdrawals, this is a story that satisfy that craving.

If you want beautiful women and studly men in your entertainment ... well, Marco Polo has one of the best looking casts on television.

Season Two of this remarkable undertaking is noteworthy in a few ways. Although the show is named after the Italian explorer, the Asian cast is getting the better lines and more air time. That means a bigger role for Benedict Wong's Kublai Khan, whose strong presence demands your attention in every scene he's in. 

The old wise monk Hundred Eyes is delivering some of the series'  best lines. His role is kind of like old lady Crawley in Downton Abbey, getting in zingers to keep the seriousness at bay.

Joan Chen's role has expanded to be more than a beautiful prop. Her character as wife of the khan now pushes the plot forward and she has ambitions of her own as one of the Khan's trusted advisers.

The addition of Michelle Yeoh to the cast as the mysterious warrior fighting for the last remnants of the Song empire gives another excuse for those fantastic acrobatic fights Yeo made famous in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

With the reduction of Marco Polo, played by Lorenzo Richelmy, to a side story instead of the main storyline, the entire story enters a grander scale allowing more interesting plotlines to be explored.

It would be advised to watch the last episode of season one to reacquaint yourself with all the characters. So much plotting is going on between the different factions seeking power, it is a little difficult keeping everything straight.

It says a lot of how we've been brainwashed but I almost expect the characters to speak in British accents because the Brits are so good at historical dramatizations. When some of the characters begin to speak in modern cadence and American idioms, the effect is jarring and out of place.
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WARNING: SPOILER AHEAD (Skip the next paragraph)

Don't mistake Marco Polo as a documentary. The writers take liberty with real history for the sake of drama, but that's OK if we're looking for an interesting story. Kublai Khan does not kill the child emperor of the Song Dynasty. But when it occurs in the TV series, it is a powerful, powerful scene.

All in all, the second season looks like an improvement over the first season. It is well worth giving it a second look if you were disappointed with the first season. It's a beautiful production with its exotic sets and costumes. Thanks to CGI we can now see long shots of the Chinese cities giving us a sense of life in that era. 

As viewers become more familiar with the vast array of characters, (a lot is going on)  and untangle all the little subplots, it should develop a stronger following. It is only too bad that because it is on Netflix, the viewership will never approach that of Game of Thrones.

Marco Polo could serve another role its writers and producers probably didn't intend. Because of the shift of attention away from the Venetian adventurer to the Chinese and Mongols, U.S. audiences can see the world from a perspective that is not exclusively Euro-centric and the history and culture of the world did not all emanate from the west.

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For more news about Asian/Americans & Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.

Marco Polo: Go East, young man

Benedict Wong, left, has a commanding presence as Kublai Khan. Lead actor Lorenzo Richelmy, right,
not so much even though the show is named after his character.

IF YOU haven't started watching Marco Polo on Netflix yet, don't worry. The 10-part season of the adventure epic will be there for you to watch at your convenience either as a bingefest or stretch it out as long as you like.

Marco Polo is grand, a spectacle, a swashbuckler and a sweeping epic. It is on the scale of Game of Thrones with political intrigue, clash of cultures and a bit of titillation thrown in for the producers and sponsors.

UPDATE: The future of Marco Polo is still up in the air. If you want a second season of this show, click here.

Oh, and by the way, it gives a lot of work to Asian thespians. What I like about the series is that it gives the writers the luxury of time to flesh out the complex characters, something that wouldn't happen if the characters were token minorities on a TV show. Well ... at least, I hope that's what happens. Lazy writers will fall back on the old stereotypes but I'm hoping Marco takes  advantage of their excellent cast and their talents.

It's a huge cast rivaling HBO's GoT but with the advantage of history instead of fantasy. I already find some of the characters fascinating and can't wait to see how their roles in this historic epic will unfold.

I have to point out, I never thought I'd be rooting for Kublai Khan, one of the ruthless figures in world history but Benedict Wong, who plays Khan has won me over as a fan (of Wong).

His commanding presence in scenes nearly makes the title character, played by Lorenzo Richelmy, nearly invisible. And therein lies one of the weakness of the show; if Richelmy doesn't pick it up, this could be a one-season series because Richelmy's Marco is the hook for white viewers who have difficulty relating to non-whites.

I have to admit to some trepidation about this series. I am hoping that it isn't the "white man saves the world," type storyline that is so typical Hollywood. So far, two episodes in, the producers are giving the Chinese and Mongol characters equal time. My fingers are crossed that they keep this up.

The reported $90 million spent for production shows. It is beautiful show to watch, from the silks waving in they wind, the fabulous costumes, the computer driven sets, the beautifully choreographed fighting scenes or the sweeping shots of the steppes. Who would have thought the treeless steppes with its wide open, endless grasslands could be so beautiful a portrayed so sensually by writer and creator John Fusco. 

Fusco's drive and passion for his subject is what got this series produced because most producers would shy away from a show with only one white actor. Credit super-producer Harvey Weinstein for taking the leap.

Fusco uses Polo not as the protagonist or as an instigator of the action, but as the eyes of Netflix's western audience. He's an observer of the actions of Khan and his court; exactly why Khan allowed the real Marco Polo to stick around.

“That’s what fascinates me. We all think of the travelogue part [of his life] … but then he spent 17 years in the court of Kublai Khan,” Fusco told an interviewer.  “He was basically a special agent, journalist, and diplomat. One of the reasons why he used Marco is he was a European and he had no dog in the fight. He could go [to these places] objectively.”

In the eyes of western history, Marco Polo is an important figure. But I wonder, how is he viewed in Asian history? Is he merely a single figure in the Khan's court without any importance other than an objective set of eyes? 

Joan Chen in "Marco Polo."

The writers' attempts to give Marco a love interest are awkward and seem forced. Therein is the weakness to Fusco's writing. His female characters are intelligent and feisty enough; but still, the women are reduced to sexual objects in order to (1) titillate the TV audience used to the GoT standards; and (2) to satisfy the studio heads who adhere to the "sex sells" adage. Hopefully, after the producers feel that they've capture an audience, they'll rely less on the T&A fallback perpetuating this stereotype of "exotic" Asian women.

But as actress Joan Chen, who plays Khan's wife Chabi, says, for that time period, there was no feminist movement and as much as we would like to empower women, in that era, in that country, women were not treated well. We shouldn't impose our modern day values on people who lived in an age when women were treated like second-class citizens.

The first two episodes moved slowly at times, and sometimes the dialogue is bait pompous and stuffy, but I understand the pacing picks up later in the series after we get to know who's who and the political landscape of the time period.

The mixed reviews the show as garnered hit on all those negatives, but, for me, a show wherein Asian actors can show their talent, with Asian characters with depth and with an underlying plot in which Europe is NOT the center of the world, and an historical perspective that is not Eurocentric, is an important step forward and we shouldn't lose sight of that, even though we wish it could be more.

In the larger scheme of things, in this time of China-bashing and North Korean dictators, it is vitally critical for the future of this country that U.S. audiences get used to seeing Asian faces, whether it be at work, school or in the movies and on the TV screen.

If you're tired of the reruns and the umpteenth showing of the "Christmas Story" or "White Christmas," Marco Polo is a good way to pass the winter months.