--- description: New teaser trailer for "Marco Polo," the forthcoming Netflix original series. title: Trailer: Marco Polo is New Netflix Original Program image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here’s the Teaser Trailer for _Marco Polo_, Netflix’s Next Original Series  by [Eliza Berman](/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Oct 30, 2014 4:42 PM CUT  by [Eliza Berman](/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Oct 30, 2014 4:42 PM CUT Swords, sex and armor have proven a veritable jackpot for HBO, and now Netflix is getting in on the action. The teaser for _Marco Polo_, an action drama about the explorer’s years in the 13th century court of Kublai Khan, practically begs to be compared to _Game of Thrones_. And since Netflix is on a seemingly endless roll with critically acclaimed original programming, there’s good reason for adventure fans to get excited. Starring Italian actor Lorenzo Richelmy as Marco Polo and British actor Benedict Wong as Kublai Khan, the show promises four of the critical elements of binge-watching: “greed, betrayal, sexual intrigue and rivalry.” It was originally intended to air on Starz, but the company ran into trouble filming in China. Netflix then picked up the project and completed filming in Malaysia, Kazakhstan, and Italy. For those whose history classes failed them and still think Marco Polo is merely a game of swimming pool tag, the man himself was an Italian merchant who spent 24 years exploring Asia. While he wasn’t the first European explorer in China and Central Asia, he left the most extensive documentation of his travels, and his _Book of the Marvels of the World_ was many Europeans’ first encounter with Asia. _Marco Polo_ premieres on Dec. 12. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3548658/marco-polo-netflix-trailer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3548658/marco-polo-netflix-trailer/"},"headline":"Here’s the Teaser Trailer for Marco Polo, Netflix’s Next Original Series","datePublished":"2014-10-30T16:42:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:07:45.943Z","description":"“The blood of an adventurer courses through your veins”","url":"https://time.com/3548658/marco-polo-netflix-trailer/","keywords":["Television","Netflix","Trailers"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliza Berman","jobTitle":"Berman is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3548658/marco-polo-netflix-trailer/","name":"Here’s the Teaser Trailer for Marco Polo, Netflix’s Next Original Series"}}]}] ```