As Netflix becomes one of the world’s greatest creators of groundbreaking television, it was about time they got in the business of making period epics to compete with other networks’ offerings like Outlander and Game of Thrones, and with Marco Polo (available on December 12) they might have just struck gold. The lavish production centers on the life of the famous Italian explorer, played by newcomer Lorenzo Richelmy, when he becomes a servant in Kublai Khan’s court. The Mongol emperor is played by the charismatic Benedict Wong who infuses the part with equal parts humor and gravitas. With each episode their relationship becomes more fascinating as they engage in a series of mind games that turn them from master/servant to friends.

Even though the show features breathtaking battles and sumptuous settings, Marco Polo’s creator John Fusco focused on showing the clash of cultures between East and West, and how it’s so relevant to the world we live in, which is why the casting of Marco and Kublai Khan proved to be especially crucial. Richelmy and Wong were perfectly chosen because they embody the traits that make these characters so interesting, Richelmy bringing a sense of complete freshness and openness, and Wong bringing wisdom and charm.

As we meet to discuss the show in New York City, they are engaged in a lively conversation, and you can see that like their characters, they too bonded over the shoot. As we sit down to talk, Richelmy points out how much smaller Wong is looking, and as he grabs his stomach and repeats the word “reduce”, we find the perfect segue...

Benedict, I didn’t recognize you when I first saw the show. Can you talk a bit about this physical transformation?

Benedict: (Laughs) Yeah, it was all about releasing the valves (points at his stomach), but yeah it took the best part of four and a half months and then also throughout the production I got bigger and bigger. It was all about you know, eating the kind of things that you’re not usually allowed, like breads and cheese and pasta…

Pizza?

Benedict: Yeah! Also training and protein shakes but that was it, really.

Was it weird? At first I even thought you were wearing prosthetics or something.

Benedict: Yeah, it’s interesting cause people don’t really know where to go, whether they’re insulting me or paying me a compliment with the fat suit comments (laughs). But no, that was all me, really…

You’re used to being in big productions, but this was the biggest project you’ve ever been in, right Lorenzo? How did this come to happen?

Lorenzo: Nobody called me, so I had to cast myself. I heard about this project and I the biggest problem was I didn’t know English so well, but I felt I had a strong connection to Marco Polo and that I could play him. So I called a director friend of mine to make a tape, because I wanted to show them maybe a casting director wouldn’t see why I could play this part, it was the first time I wanted to audition for something based on my taste. So we made a tape, my girlfriend played Kublai Khan and it was great, so I sent the audition tape and two months later they called me and they said “we liked you, come to Malaysia”. I went to Malaysia, did the audition and then creator John Fusco told me they liked me but that my English wasn’t so good, so they gave me one week with a dialect coach to catch up. I studied eight hours a day for an entire week and at the end I auditioned once more in London and they chose me.

Benedict: ...and it was perfect! I knew they were traveling around searching for Marco Polo and I did a lot of read-troughs and then I met Lorenzo, that was it, he was it.

Even though the show has a bunch of battles, drugs, sex and snakes....

Benedict: (laughs) sex, drugs and snakes? There was no rock and roll, just sex, drugs and snakes! This needs to be on a t-shirt!

I’ll be expecting some royalties then. But anyway, at its center the show is about Marco and Kublai’s relationship, which is very paternal at some point.

Lorenzo: I found it very interesting because these characters come from the most different kinds of cultures and backgrounds. It’s a beautiful relationship. At the beginning I’m his puppet, we will bond at the end of the season, but at the beginning I’m no one to him. It was beautiful because our relationship is based on the friction between cultures, which is what thrilled me.

Benedict: I think Kublai is also fascinated as well by his uncommon perception and that he sees things and speaks to him in a very vivid way that he can relate to. Further down the line maybe he becomes like a therapist to him, someone he can talk to, an outsider he can trust. Maybe he’s always been surrounded by “yes people” and wants something different.

Lorenzo: It starts like the relationship between a clown and a king.

Lorenzo, you’re from the country that gave us Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci, a country of explorers so to speak. Did you ever dream of playing one of them?

Lorenzo: (Laughs) We’re not just famous for pizza and bad economy! You know I’m really proud of this job and I’m happy to be playing this part precisely for this reason, because my character carries the good traits of Italian people.

What kind of research did the show require from you?

Lorenzo:Actually John Fusco was the real mind who did all the research, he went to Mongolia with his son and explored the country on horseback to really understand this place. We read a ton of books about these people, the beautiful thing - and something to think about - is that Marco Polo is known as the great merchant, so then we understand that he went to Mongolia, stayed there for 20 years and brought nothing back, there was something missing...so we get to tell this untold story. The character descriptions are all true, then of course we build the show around all the entertaining stuff.

The drugs, snakes and sex!

Lorenzo: Yes, these things work because they’re fantasy. We don’t know much about medieval Mongolia.

Benedict: Sex, power and politics in the thirteenth century in the Silk Road, the biggest empire of its time...the things that Kublai did...the changes he made in the structure of business permeates through the world that we live in now.

All ten episodes of Marco Polo will be available to stream on Netflix on December 12.