The Weinstein Company announced on Tuesday that it has begun production on the Netflix original series Marco Polo, set to debut in late 2014.
The ten-episode first season is being shot in Italy, Kazakhstan and the new Pinewood Studios in Malaysia.
The series follows the titular 13th Century Italian explorer, played by Lorenzo Richelmy (pictured), on his journey to war-torn China, described in a press release as “a world replete with exotic martial arts, political skullduggery, spectacular battles and sexual intrigue.” It is unclear if the series will show Polo discovering pasta.
Marco Polo also stars Benedict Wong, Zhu Zhu, Tom Wu, Remy Hii and Rick Yune. The first two hours are being directed by the Oscar-nominated Norwegian duo Joachim Roenning & Espen Sandberg (Kon-Tiki), who have been tapped by Disney to helm the fifth installment of Jack Sparrow’s adventures, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, scheduled to begin filming this fall.
Creator John Fusco (Forbidden Kingdom, Young Guns, Hidalgo) and Harvey Weinstein will serve as executive producers. Dan Minahan (Game of Thrones, True Blood) will also executive produce, as well as direct two episodes.
