Why So Quiet? Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's 'Bewildering Silence' Is Deafening as Netflix Contract Nears End Next Year
With Netflix set to review their contract next year, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's output for the streamer is met with 'bewildering silence.'
In 2025, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's $100 million dollar Netflix deal will expire, and despite the looming deadline, the Sussex duo are only offering "bewildering silence" so far.
"They can turn it around if they come up with some work. The only thing they are doing as far as I can see with Invictus, Prince Harry already had that. So they have not done anything; they lost Spotify. Will they lose Netflix? The contract runs out in 2025," royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told an outlet.
"It is rather bewildering their silence," he added.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex inked the deal with the streaming giant in the late summer of 2020, as they were establishing themselves in California after "Megxit." At that time, both were quasi-stars in the Hollywood circuit, as many people saw them as "victims of the system." The duo's track record with Netflix as the four-year mark approaches has been spotty at best.
Meghan's much-hyped animated series Pearl was eventually scrapped altogether. The ex-working royals have given the streamer three documentaries in all this time: Live to Lead, Harry & Meghan, and Heart of Invictus. Only their self-titled docuseries has been a hit for the app, with Live to Lead, a showcase for profiling social activists around the world, and Heart of Invictus, about the games of the same name, being deemed "low-rated flops."
Meghan told Variety in November 2023 that both she and Harry "were excited" about the projects they are set to make for the streaming platform — but nothing has been announced so far, and no further details have been provided. For many, the "embarrassment" of the pair's Spotify dumping is still strongly attached to the royal rebels.
"I wish I had been involved in the 'Meghan and Harry leave Spotify' negotiation. 'The F------ Grifters.' That’s the podcast we should have launched with them," Spotify's Head of Podcast Innovation and Monetization Bill Simmons shared shortly after the audio giant parted ways with Team Sussex.
He continued: "I have got to get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to try and help him with a podcast idea. It’s one of my best stories… F--- them. The grifters."
As The Royal Observer previously reported last June, reports began swirling after Spotify waved goodbye to the Sussex royals that Netflix was soon to do the same. But Harry and Meghan's content with that tech giant performed much better than their audio offerings.
But still, an ultimatum between the company and the pair was said to have transpired. A Hollywood insider observed in late June 2023: "Netflix was pleased to sign Harry and Meghan and is looking for some great ideas going forward. But the remainder of the deal relies on them producing those good ideas. The deal’s continually under review, which is normal for ones of this magnitude."
But where is the content?
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GBN reported on Fitzwilliam's comments.
