Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s $100million, five-year deal with Netflix is nearing its end, and the chances of the streaming giant signing them up for another contract has been the subject of fevered speculation.
The Sussexes’ future with Netflix was a talking point on The Rest Is Entertainment podcast recently, as hosts Richard Osman and Marina Hyde discussed Meghan’s lifestyle series, With Love, Meghan. Marina suggested, ‘First of all, there's not going to be a severing with Netflix. They're not going to renew, but they might say we're continuing to develop projects with them.’
The journalist then speculated that media outlets and corporations may be driven by an ulterior motive to work with Harry and Meghan, saying, ‘I have to say – and this is the reality – is that a lot of people are hanging around in case there's a divorce. Because then, and that might be Netflix, or whoever it might be who's got a deal with them, might keep a vague hand in.’
Our source says the theory is also doing the rounds in Hollywood and it has left Harry and Meghan appalled, particularly as it dredges up the recurring feeling that people are essentially waiting for them to separate. An insider close to the couple – who celebrate their seventh wedding anniversary in May – says, ‘There’s absolutely a sense that people are trying to build relationships with them in case there’s a divorce. But the idea that Netflix, or anyone else they’re working with, is just biding their time and waiting for them to implode is horrifying to Meghan and Harry. They both find it sickening that people would make those sorts of accusations.’
The insider continues, ‘They know they’re under a microscope, but they certainly don’t believe that Netflix is only working with them to be the first in line for their downfall. They do their best to shut it all out and get on with their lives but, of course, they know there are plenty of vultures in the industry that would love to see them break up.’
Locking in a lucrative agreement with Netflix in September 2020, ‘to develop scripted and unscripted series, film, documentaries, and children programming’, signified the first major move from Harry, 40, and Meghan, 43, after stepping away from royal duties. To date, they have released five projects on the platform: Live To Lead (2022); Harry & Meghan (2022), which holds the record for the biggest debut for a Netflix documentary; Heart Of Invictus (2023), and Polo (2024). The fifth, With Love, Meghan, began streaming earlier this month, but, like the other offerings, has failed to mirror the success of her and Harry’s joint-fronted docuseries.
Before Meghan’s show aired, eyebrows were raised when a Vanity Fair article made the bombshell claim that the Duchess of Sussex’s representatives reached out to an undisclosed publishing house to ‘gauge interest’ in a book exploring a theoretical split from Harry – with whom she shares Archie, five, and Lilibet, three. At the time, we were told that ‘no offer was ever made’ and ‘no manuscript was produced’. But our insider did acknowledge that Meghan felt ‘completely degraded and betrayed’ by the reports, and that Harry was also ‘shell-shocked’.
Talking about ‘the feeling people are just waiting for their marriage to crash and burn’, our insider says, ‘There are a lot of people cynically assuming that Netflix is playing some sort of long game by working with Harry and Meghan. They certainly wouldn’t be the only ones. Publishers, producers, brands – anyone that has a deal with Meghan or wants one has got to be salivating over the potential money that could be made on their divorce. The second the marriage looks shaky, you better believe they’ll be lining up to lock in one, or both, of them for a deal.
‘The whole “divorce book” thing didn’t help matters, as it created a real frenzy. Harry and Megan know there’s nothing they can do to stop the speculation. They see it as just one more way to try and tear them down.’