Imagine if you want, we are back in 2014. We are deeply in the presidency of Obama, where the idea of ​​Donald Trump who presents himself to the presidency of the United States is hardly more than a punchline talk show. And now Netflix, the DVD Distribution Service, experiences the crazy idea of ​​putting films and television … on the Internet?

Using the existing libraries of Hollywood Studios, Netflix created a “new media” which quickly went from the dissemination of existing content to the revival of the favorite emissions of fans like “Arrested Development”, proving that the streaming service was not limited to the distribution of existing content, but could also finance and take a new series too.

But it is one thing to relaunch a canceled show, in which the whole main creative work (such as the development, the casting and the establishment of the visual language of the series) has already been completed. This is another to create an entirely original series. With the punch of the political drama of David Fincher “House of Cards” and the dramatic of the prison “Orange is the new black”, Netflix proved that it had what it was necessary to compete in the arena against premium television platforms like HBO. And now they wanted to go after the HBO Crown Jewel: “Game of Thrones”.

Enter: “Marco Polo.” Originally developed for Starz by Weinstein, Netflix took the series for an order of 10 episodes with a budget of approximately $ 90 millionOnly second after “Game of Thrones” himself. According to the history of Marco Polo years alongside Kublai Khan at the heart of the Mongolian Empire, the series brought an epic sense of the scale to history, but the show was suddenly canceled by Netflix in 2016, which at the time was considered A rare event. So why been this epic series of power and conquest been canceled?

Recreating the Kublai Khan court was an expensive company, and “Marco Polo” was never about to generate critical reception or the “Game of Thrones” fans. Critics called him “opulent” and “lifeless”, “ Far from the radically convincing fantastic series Netflix after.

It was the first trip for the original Netflix programming, a sign that the streamer was not supernaturally endowed with the ability to hit a home run with each bat. And for Netflix, it was an expensive lesson. As he was canceled, “Marco Polo” was a loss of $ 200 million for Netflix. The decision to put an end to the series would have been mutual between Netflix and the company Weinstein, an index that all the people involved recognized that the series had not lived up to their great hopes.

Now, almost 10 years after its cancellation, “Marco Polo” is little known in the Pantheon of the Netflix increasingly sprawling library. Meanwhile, “Game of Thrones” has Slowly projected his own spin-offsalthough only Two came out of the development of hell.

Netflix, for its part, has never given up trying to make your own “Game of Thrones”. Their latest attempt, an adaptation of the Chinese science fiction novel “Body problem” By the “Game of Thrones” showrunners, David Benioff and DB Weiss, it is estimated at cost 233 million dollars For its first season. Despite its high price, the series seems to be a success for Netflix, and a second season is on the way, so fans of “Three Body Problem” can thank “Marco Polo” for tracing the way to go, even if it did not survive to see that day.