darligulv1

However from a business standpoint I have to say that Netflix doing a big-budget series like this without a tentpole Caucasian character is a huge risk

I read somewhere that the show should have been called Kublai Khan or something to that affect since the story revolves around him more then it does around Marco Polo. But as a show that already has a considerably non-white cast, and a period piece, they wanted someone who was familiar with western audiences.

And like you, I am so glad they did not whitewash the characters.

From my understanding, Malaysia is a predominately Muslim country. Did you (Olivia and Leifennie) face any problems later on for filming the concubine scenes?

Just to clarify, I'm Muslim, but I don't really care for anyone else's choices (and quite liberal myself). It's just that I've heard about the Malaysian Muslim majority being more conservative over the last 10-15 years or so, and wasn't sure how much of that is just right wing news (in the West) propagating a misleading narrative, or how much is true.

I've always wanted to go to Malaysia. I did when I was really small, but remember very little.