‘Marco Polo’ canceled by Netflix after two seasons

While Netflix has taken many big swings over the years, not all of them are going to connect. Unfortunately, “Marco Polo” is one that missed enough for the streaming service to cancel it after two seasons on the air.

This news was confirmed in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, with Cindy Holland, the network’s vice-president of original content, having the following to say:

“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, David and our friends at [The Weinstein Company], who were great collaborators from start to finish.”

It is extremely rare for Netflix to cancel any scripted property, especially this early in a show’s run. However, we do understand precisely why we got to this past with “Marco Polo” given that this show had seemingly a hefty budget, and wasn’t the recipient of a heck of a lot of buzz from many reporters and critics.  These sort of epics are really hard to put on, and you really have to do something out of this world to generate the sort of ratings or attention needed to justify them in the long-term.

We do know that for Netflix at the moment, they certainly aren’t exactly short on other shows. They’ve got a pretty robust number of different series to choose from, and they run the gamut from comedies to dramas to other high-concept shows. We know that there are many others on tap, so there was probably enough confidence on Netflix’s front that they could make this move without alienating too many of their viewers in the long-term who were fans of this show.

Are you upset about the cancellation of “Marco Polo”? Let us know in the comments below! (Photo: Netflix.)