The clock might be ticking on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s lucrative partnership with Netflix. According to insiders, their blockbuster deal is facing serious turbulence, with a string of their planned projects stuck in development purgatory.
A major red flag is the stalled adaptation of Carley Fortune’s novel, Meet Me at the Lake. First announced back in 2023, the film—set to be produced under their Archewell Productions banner—still hasn’t secured a cast or a director. “Spending three years in development for a movie like this at Netflix isn’t a good sign,” a source revealed to Page Six, noting that the streaming giant shelled out a hefty $3 million just to acquire the book rights. In a similar state of limbo is their take on Jasmine Guillory’s romantic novel, The Wedding Date.
While not every project has been a dead end—the documentary Cookie Queen did manage to premiere at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival—the victory feels hollow. Despite earning positive reviews, the film has failed to find a distributor or streaming home, leaving its future, and the Sussexes’ return on investment, uncertain.
The duo did strike gold with their explosive 2022 docuseries, Harry & Meghan, which became a bona fide hit for the platform. However, subsequent releases, such as the Polo documentary, have reportedly failed to deliver the kind of returns expected from the blockbuster agreement signed in 2020, shortly after they stepped back from royal duties.
With the pipeline looking dry and results mixed, the pressure is mounting. As one insider put it, “I don’t know how long this new deal is for, but if they don’t have anything to show soon, I can’t imagine it will be renewed.
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