🚨 SHOCKING REVELATION 🚨
Netflix’s Biggest Failure: A $200M Streaming Gamble That Disappeared Without a Trace! 😱

What was once hailed as Netflix’s next big thing turned out to be a massive flop.
💥 A $200 million investment—gone in the blink of an eye.
💥 The project had everyone talking… until it vanished without a trace.
💥 Why did this ambitious gamble fail so spectacularly?

You won’t believe what went wrong, or how Netflix’s biggest mistake slipped under the radar. 🔥

Back in 2014, Netflix decided it was going to challenge Game of Thrones with a sweeping, epic original series of its own, and all they got for their efforts was a $200 million hole in their balance sheet. Game of Thrones changed fantasy TV forever, and try as they might, no other fantasy series has been able to touch it.

Even accounting for the steep decline of the later seasons of Game of Thrones, the HBO juggernaut stands head and shoulders above anything else in the genre. The next shows on that list would kill to have seasons like GOT‘s seventh and eighth. Plenty of streamers tried to dip into the mania, of course.

Netflix may be the old guard of streaming, but when it came to original programming, Netflix lagged behind HBO and Starz, so dabbling in a genre that’s already proved successful wasn’t a terrible idea. However, had Netflix known their GOT competition would cost them $200 million, they may have reconsidered.

Marco Polo Was Netflix’s Ambitious Answer To Game Of Thrones

The Series Was Also A Multi-Year Medieval Epic

Game of Thrones premiered in 2011, and by 2014, it was in its fourth season, and only getting better and more popular. It’s no surprise, then, that Netflix decided it needed its own multi-season epic series to compete with HBOs. Instead of fantasy, Netflix chose history, and Marco Polo was born, created by John Fusco.

The series follows the titular Venetian explorer, played by Lorenzo Richelmy, as he travels to China and becomes embroiled in the court politics of Kublai Khan’s (Benedict Wong) Mongol Empire. An incredibly ambitious series, Marco Polo was reportedly picked up for $90 million after Starz released the project back to The Weinstein Company (via BusinessInsider).

Extensively researched, Fusco traveled the Silk Road by horseback in order to prepare to make the series (via CNTraveller). Marco Polo was shot in multiple countries, including Kazakhstan, Italy, Malaysia, Slovakia, and Hungary, similar to how Game of Thrones was filmed across Europe, Africa, and North America.

Marco Polo’s Massive Budget Wasn’t Enough For It To Become A Hit

The Show Cost Netflix $200 Million

Despite the incredible expenses that went into making Marco Polo, the series did not end up being a hit. That’s not even comparing it to Game of Thrones. The series floundered on its own, and after two seasons, Marco Polo was canceled. The show ends on a cliffhanger with the Crusader army on their way to China.

The show was canceled after season 2 launched to little fanfare in July 2016, and Netflix opted not to pick it up for season 3 (via THR). Apparently, the decision not to move forward with a third season was a joint decision between Netflix and The Weinstein Company, with Netflix VP of original content, Cindy Holland, saying,

“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.”

Marco Polo was allegedly responsible for a $200 million loss for Netflix. With on-location filming, massive sets, high production values, a multinational cast with restrictions and barriers, and a story that was looking to only get bigger, it’s clear Netflix was fed up and could no longer shoulder the series.

The Real Reason Marco Polo Couldn’t Be Netflix’s Game Of Thrones

Marco Polo Was Not Nearly As Exciting As Game Of Thrones

However, financial problems may not have spelled the end for Marco Polo had it just been better received. After all, streamers have often taken on expensive series for multiple seasons, and it’s not as if the huge expenses of Marco Polo came as a surprise. A high-cost, massive epic was exactly what they were looking for.

The real reason the show was canceled was that it just wasn’t that good.

The real reason the show was canceled was that it just wasn’t that good. The series has a 66% on Rotten Tomatoes, and for a show that intended to knock Game of Thrones off its pedestal, that’s a pretty measly score. All the money in the world could not improve the core problems with the show.

Marco Polo took the wrong lessons from Game of Thrones, piling in unnecessary nudity and violence when it was unwarranted, but forgetting that the show also needed to be more than a slog through history. Its greatest sin is that the series is boring. Beautifully shot and impressively staged, there’s just very little to keep you engaged otherwise.

Netflix Learned Important Lessons From Marco Polo’s Failure

Netflix Also Learned A Bad Lesson About Canceling Shows

Marco Polo did teach Netflix an important lesson, however. It was never going to succeed by simply copying the successes of other streamers; it was not built for that, and Netflix audiences were not expecting these sweeping epics from the company. Their next shows had a distinct focus on characters and story.

The Crown, Narcos, and Stranger Things were the next big shows to come from Netflix, and each of these feels much more unique and of a piece with the Netflix style that people would come to appreciate. These series focus on characters and stories first, then comes the production and world-building.

Netflix did learn one bad lesson from the Marco Polo experiment, however, and that is that the streamer can simply cancel a show the moment they think it’s no longer worth it. Canceling a series with little to no explanation seems second nature to Netflix, and it’s something Game of Thrones‘ network, HBO, does not do nearly as much.