Netflix announces dates for 'The Crown,' 'Marseilles' and 'Marco Polo' Season 2

In what may come to be known in television as the Year of Netflix, the streaming platform released premiere dates and trailers for some of its latest new and returning shows at a conference in Paris on Monday. 

Marco Polo (Season 2)

The drama about the adventures of 13th-century Italian explorer Marco Polo (Lorenzo Richelmy) is coming back for a second season on Netflix. The new season will continue to follow Polo's experience among members of Kublai Khan's reign of the Mongol empire. 

Marco Polo returns on July 1 and will be available in 4K.

The Crown

From The Queen producer Andy Harries and writer Peter Morgan comes The Crown, a drama about the early reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Morgan wrote the story originally as The Audience, a play starring Helen Mirren (who also played Elizabeth in the 2005 film adaptation). The trailer teases a regal crossover between Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey -- an ideal replacement for the latter, which recently ended its six-season run.

The cast includes Claire Foy, Matt Smith, John Lithgow, Victoria Hamilton, Jared Harris, Vanessa Kirby, Dame Eileen Atkins and more. The Crown releases on Nov. 4. 

Marseilles

Perhaps to reflect its international accessibility, Netflix will soon premiere its first entirely non-English drama Marseilles, about the clash of politics and ambition in its titular city between candidates for Mayor. 

In a release, Netflix stated: "Magnificent and hypnotic city that leaves nobody indifferent, Marseille unleashes the greatest passions and inevitably the worst crimes."

The French series features Gérard Depardieu, Benoît Magimel, Géraldine Pailhas, Nadia Farès, Stéphane Caillard, Jean-René Privat, Guillaume Arnault, Hedi Bouchenafa, Carolina Jurczak and Nassim Si Ahmed. It begins streaming on May 5.

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