Meghan Markle and Prince Harry appear to have a busy few months coming up, with a number of non-fiction projects in the works
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed a five-year production deal with Netflix in 2020, said to be worth $100m. The couple’s primary project from the deal came in the form of their infamous six-part series, Harry & Meghan, which became Netflix’s most successful documentary launch ever in December 2022. However, the lack of activity at Archewell led to chronic speculation about its future.
Now, it seems the couple are ready to reveal their ambitious TV projects, which are currently under development and are set to start filming over the summer months. According to Deadline, the first series will see the Duchess celebrate the ‘joys of cooking, gardening, entertaining, and friendship.’ It’s believed Meghan Markle will not only star in the series, but she is also listed as an executive producer. The news comes after Meghan unveiled her lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, with reports indicating she would be filming a series to coincide with the launch.
The second project will focus on one of Prince Harry’s loves – the world of professional polo. It will be filmed primarily at the U.S. Open Polo Championship in Wellington, Florida, at The USPA National Polo Center, where it will ‘explore the world of the sport, which is known primarily for its aesthetic and social scene’. According to Deadline, the series ‘will pull the curtain back on the grit and passion of the sport, capturing players and all it takes to compete at the highest level’. The sport is famously one of the Duke’s main passions, and he was often seen playing in matches in the UK while a working royal. Now he lives in California, he’s been pictured at a number of matches state-side. His annual Sentebale Polo Cup – which he plays in every year to raise money for his Lesotho charity – is always a summer highlight.
The announcement will likely raise questions as to how much the couple will reveal about their personal lives in the two series. There will be some punters who reckon there has been more than enough ‘factual entertainment’ from the Montecito camp, particularly after the release of Harry’s memoir Spare. The dramatic rifts caused by Spare, as well as the Oprah interview will leave people wondering just what damage could be done by any more ‘factual entertainment’.
Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer, previously teased the Duke and Duchess had plenty of projects which would be coming to screens around the world. During a Los Angeles event for the announcement of new Netflix projects in February, Bajaria said of the couple’s screen projects, ‘They actually have a bunch in development’. According to Bajaria, these include a couple of ‘unscripted projects’, and a scripted film and series in very early development. The Times reports that the film is an adaptation of the romance novel Meet Me at the Lake. Last year it was announced that the couple had optioned the rights to the novel, which is set in Toronto, where Meghan was based during her filming of Suits.
Other documentary releases from Archewell have had less success. Indeed, Archewell has been suffering from a number of personnel issues after the departure of Bennett Levine, a senior manager who joined Archewell in just 2021. In January he gave his notice, announcing that he was departing to join an LA-based film finance firm. He is the latest in a sequence of Archewell employees to jump ship, including Ben Browning, internal Head of Content and Farar Taylor, Head of Marketing.
