Questions are swirling about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s future with Netflix after news this weekend that the crisis-hit streaming service has dropped Meghan’s much-ballyhooed animated series, “Pearl,” from its lineup, amid a wave of cutbacks.
Deadline, which first reported that “Pearl” had been axed, said that “Pearl” was still in the development stage when it’s not uncommon for a project to be dropped by one studio, only to be picked up by another.
Netflix also is still “bullish” on other projects it has “percolating” with Archewell Productions, Meghan and Harry’s production company, Deadline reported. That includes Harry’s upcoming documentary series, “Heart of Invictus.”
Still, the news can’t be welcome to Meghan and Harry as they continue to face pressure to produce worthwhile content after netting more than $100 million in a deal with Netflix.
“The whole problem with entertainment deals is that you have to deliver hits,” said famed editor and author Tina Brown in an interview last week with the Washington Post upon publication of her book “The Palace Papers.” Anyone can — if they’re lucky — sign a major entertainment deal, Brown said, “but where’s the product?”
Brown and other royal observers say the Duke and Duchess of Sussex need to continue to play up their connections to the royal family in order to stay relevant. “The royal brand,” Brown said, is one of the most powerful, well-known brands on earth.
Brown said the Meghan and Harry, who stepped away from the brand when they stepped away from royal duties and moved to California, underestimated how hard it would be to build wealth, power and influence without “the palace platform.”
“Meghan doesn’t really have a brand” and “you get a sense that there’s a certain amount of flailing there,” Brown added.
Prince Charles biographer Tom Bower agreed that “Brand Markle” is struggling, telling the Daily Mail this weekend that Netflix may expect Meghan and Harry to produce content related to the royal family in order to stay interesting and to help boost the streaming service’s slumping subscriber numbers. Netflix, which also is dealing with a collapse in share value, has predicted it could lose another 2 million subscribers between now and June, the Daily Mail said.
“It was hard to imagine what she offered Netflix in the ‘Pearl’ (series),” Bower said. “All she can offer is her ‘fame’ but her critics would say it’s her notoriety. Now, to meet her financial needs, she’ll be under pressure from Netflix to deliver more original damnation of the royal family.”
Late last month, when Netflix’s subscriber woes first became public, another royal commentator, Richard Fitzwilliams, likewise warned that there could be additional pressure on the Sussexes to provide “more royal content in what they produce,” the Daily Mail said.
“When Harry and Meghan signed up to Netflix for a deal worth $100 million, according to the New York Times, in September 2020, the company appeared to be riding high with a huge and expanding reach owing to the pandemic,” Fitzwilliams told the Daily Mail. “It was undoubtedly a cachet to have two royals with a high global profile as well as produce ‘The Crown’ which, though controversial, was an international hit.”
“A year and a half later they have actually produced absolutely nothing,” Fitzwilliams added.
Meghan announced “Pearl” to great fanfare last summer, Deadline said. Meghan, executive producing the series with David Furnish, Elton John’s husband, said the series centered on the adventures of a 12-year-old girl who finds inspiration in a variety of influential women throughout history.
At the time Meghan said, “Like many girls her age, our heroine Pearl is on a journey of self-discovery as she tries to overcome life’s daily challenges.” She praised Netflix for allowing her to celebrate “extraordinary women throughout history” and said that she and Furnish were eager to bring “this special series to light.”
“Pearl” was expected to be the first animated series from Archewell Productions, which Meghan and Harry formed to promote their new careers in the United States, following their separation from the royal family.
While Netflix dropped “Pearl,” the service has moved forward with “Heart of Invictus,” the documentary series about Harry’s work with the Invictus Games, the international sporting event for disabled current and former service members. Netflix producers and a camera crew reportedly filmed the couple during their appearances at the recent Invictus Games in The Hague.
There is speculation that the Sussexes also arranged to visit Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle last month, on their way to the Invictus Games, as part of their work with Netflix on the documentary. While the visit wasn’t filmed, the Sussexes’ representatives confirmed to the media that the visit had taken place.
In an interview last month with the MailOnline, Bower said Harry seemed especially eager to play up the idea that he has a “special relationship” with his 96-year-old grandmother after the visit.
While at the Invictus Games, Harry gave a controversial interview with the “Today” show, according to Newsweek and other outlets. He risked further aggravating his tense relationship with his family by framing himself as the queen’s protector in the interview, though he lives 5,400 miles away, Newsweek said. He suggested that he alone was “making sure that she’s, you know, protected and got the right people around her.”
