The main cast for the long-gestating Marco Polo television series has been set. Marco Polo has been in the works since at least 2012 and was recently saved by Netflix, which will distribute it worldwide.
Italian actor Lorenzo Richelmy will play the title role, reports Deadline. The international cast will also include English actor Benedict Wong (Prometheus) and Chinese actor Zhu Zhu (Cloud Atlas). Tom Wu, Remy Hii and Rick Yune also joined the cast.
Richelmy was born in Italy and found international acclaim for 2010’s Fat Cat. He also has several Italian TV roles on his resume and became a star there with 2002’s Il Pranzo della Domenica.
Marco Polo will run 10 episodes and was created by John Fusco, notes The Hollywood Reporter. The series focuses on Polo’s journey to 13th century China. Harvey Weinstein and Fusco are executive producing. Directors include Kon Tiki helmers Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg and Game of Thrones’ Dan Minahan.
Netflix picked up Marco Polo in January, after the project laid dormant after Starz passed on it. The Weinstein Company is producing.
The series should premiere on Netflix later this year and filming has already started in Venice.