Despite recent reports that Netflix has gone full steam ahead in producing a Meghan Markle cooking show and a series about professional polo with Prince Harry, the streamer is “not expected” to renew the splashy, five-year, $100 million contract it signed with the couple in 2020.
That’s according to Puck co-founder Matthew Belloni and entertainment reporter Lesley Goldberg. In Belloni’s Monday newsletter, he and Goldberg listed Netflix’s deal with the California-based royal couple, and their Archewell production company, as one of the “worst” of Hollywood’s Peak TV era.
They noted that the couple’s 2022 docu-series, “Harry and Meghan,” about their departure from their unhappy royal lives, was a blockbuster hit. Critics say that’s due to the fact that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex dished dirt about the British monarchy and about Harry’s relatives.
Belloni and Goldberg said that none of the couple’s other projects has “connected” in the same way, including Meghan’s “passion project,” an animated children’s series called “Pearl,” which was canceled before it even got started. Belloni and Goldberg also said that Meghan’s forthcoming cooking show and Harry’s announced polo series are two other “offerings” that aren’t expected to “connect.”
If Harry and Meghan lose the Netflix association, it could prove to be another disappointment for the aspiring media moguls, after Spotify cut ties with them in June 2023, reportedly due to low output. Like Netflix, Spotify signed a major deal with the couple soon after they relocated to California, paying them a reported $20 million to produce a slate of podcasts. But Meghan only managed to turn out 12 episodes of a podcast series called “Archetypes.”
Over the past year, the couple have been the subject of reports in The Wrap and other industry trade publications that they’ve “worn out their welcome” in Hollywood and squandered opportunities because they are demanding to work with but lack experience.
For the Puck newsletter, Harry and Meghan’s much-ballyhooed Netflix deal is on an extensive list of underperformers in Hollywood’s hyper-inflated Peak TV era. The list covers “the most costly showrunner deals, the nine-figure pacts that led to zero new shows, and the biggest underperformers” of the era.
Fans of the Montecito duo should take heart that their names are mentioned in the same company as some other Hollywood heavy-hitters who have nonetheless become “underperformers.” These veteran producers, creators and showrunners have tons of experience and track records of success in the industry — unlike Harry and Meghan. But like Harry and Meghan, they failed to live up to the promise of multimillion-dollar production deals they inked with steamers and studios. The list of “underperfomers” includes J.J. Abrams, “The Game of Thrones” creators David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, Seth MacFarlane, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Ava DuVernay.
The list moreover includes Barack and Michelle Obama and their Higher Ground production company. Netflix signed a multimillion-dollar production deal with the former first couple in 2018. While Deadline reported in June that the deal had been “fruitful,” and Higher Ground has “become one of Netflix’s top suppliers of tastemaker film and TV projects,” Belloni and Goldberg said that the company’s “executive turnover and slow output” have frustrated the streamer.
When it comes to Harry and Meghan’s current relationship with Netflix, reports earlier this month said that Meghan’s cooking show wouldn’t be released until the spring of 2025. The streaming service has yet to announce when it is ready to release the show, even though filming reportedly wrapped in Los Angeles and in her hometown of Montecito.
Both the Daily Beast and the Daily Mail reported that the release of the cooking show was being timed with the launch of Meghan’s new luxury lifestyle brand, America Riviera Orchard.
The media build-up of the cooking show and the American Riviera Orchard (AOR) brand has led both fans and critics of Meghan to expect that both would be launched in the fall. Buzz around AOR’s promised luxury home and lifestyle products exploded in the spring because Meghan’s celebrity friends tried to stoke enthusiasm about her new venture. Kris Jenner, Chrissy Teigen and others boasted on social media that they had been among the fortunate few to receive her limited-edition AOR pots of raspberry and strawberry jam, along with some probably pricey dog biscuits.
But the Daily Beast reported that Meghan probably wouldn’t be able to follow that principal in sales and marketing with her brand: “strike while the iron is hot.” And that’s not just because it will be timed with the Netflix show, according to reports.
The U.S. Patents and Trademarks Office also told the former Hollywood TV actor that she needs to correct “irregularities” in applications she made to the office, the Daily Mail reported. The office has notified Meghan’s lawyers of various issues, including the incorrect classification of other proposed AOR products, such as yoga blankets, picnic baskets and recipe books. Unfortunately for AOR, it could take around eight months for the trademark applications to be examined and up to 14 months for them to be registered, the Daily Mail said.