Netflix will reportedly not be renewing its deal with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. The Sun reported on July 22 that the streaming giant will not renew the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s contract when it expires in September.
A source told the outlet: “The deal is done; no more shows will be made. Netflix feel they’ve got all they can from the couple. Netflix were clever in that they got a hell of a lot of viewers for the first documentary series, and knew, realistically, it would prove the zenith of content from the Montecito pair.”
“They’re not unhappy with how things turned out — they got those initial hits, and produced one of the most talked-about shows of all time. The content got weaker from there on but, frankly, for £20million a year, anything was better than nothing,” the source added. “There’s no animosity from either side. Things have just run their course. Netflix execs are well aware Meghan’s priority now is her own brand, and they won’t play second fiddle to that. Publicly, there will not be a statement and of course, if things change dramatically, they’d be open to a one-off project down the line.”
One source revealed to Page Six that “there are more TV projects coming soon with both” Meghan and Harry. Per Page Six, the Duke and Duchess are set to sign a first-look deal with the streamer when their exclusive deal ends this year.
© Courtesy of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex via NetflixMeghan and Harry, who stepped back as working members of the royal family in 2020, inked their multi-year deal with Netflix in 2020. “Our focus will be on creating content that informs but also gives hope,” the couple said in a statement to the New York Times at the time. “As new parents, making inspirational family programming is also important to us.”
The Duke and Duchess founded Archewell Productions in 2020. The couple’s company is “dedicated to illuminating thought-provoking and diverse narratives that underscore our common humanity and celebrate community – through scripted and non-scripted TV, film, documentaries, and podcasting.”
The Netflix documentary series Harry & Meghan, a Story Syndicate production in association with Archewell Productions and Diamond Docs, premiered in December of 2022. “It’s nice to be able to trust someone with our story — a seasoned director whose work I’ve long admired — even if it means it may not be the way we would have told it. But that’s not why we’re telling it. We’re trusting our story to someone else, and that means it will go through their lens,” the Duchess told Variety of the series directed by Liz Garbus. “It’s interesting. My husband has never worked in this industry before. For me, having worked on ‘Suits,’ it’s so amazing to be around so much creative energy and to see how people work together and share their own points of view. That’s been really fun.”
The Duke and Duchess executive produced the Live to Lead documentary series, released on Netflix at the end of 2022, while Harry also executive produced 2023’s Heart of Invictus. POLO, from executive producers Harry and Meghan, debuted on the streamer in December of 2024, followed by the Duchess’ lifestyle show With Love, Meghan this past March. Meghan’s series is set to return for a second season this fall.
Speaking at the TIME100 summit back in April, the As ever founder said that Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix, “has been such an incredible partner in the partnership my husband and I have had with Netflix for the past few years and then Bela Bajaria as well has just been so incredibly supportive and I think just naturally I was doing what I’ve always loved to do and people couldn’t see that more broadly, but what I’d love to do was always make things in my kitchen, do small flower arrangements, make a lot of jam and when I was sending those as gifts one day Bella said there’s a show here and I hadn’t at the onset thought that that was something that I wanted to share in that way and creatively we worked as partners to really find a way for it to land and for me to be able to share it and just have fun, which is really, I think, the goal in this chapter for me certainly and then you just watch the extensions of that where Netflix coming on as my business partner for the brand, As ever, is really an extension of the evolution of our partnership together and they complement each other.”
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