How Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Netflix Partnership Unraveled: A Six-Year Struggle in Hollywood

In the fall of 2020, Netflix and Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, alongside Prince Harry, struck a headline-grabbing five-year exclusive deal estimated at $60 million, positioning the former royals as the streaming giant’s most high-profile creative collaborators. Six years later, the partnership is collapsing under the weight of unmet expectations. Netflix has effectively divested from Archewell Productions’ As Ever lifestyle brand, a venture the streamer once funded to the tune of $10 million in inventory, leaving the Sussexes with dwindling industry influence and a string of underperforming projects. Insiders at Netflix describe the mood inside the company as bluntly dismissive, with executives Ted Sarandos and Bela Bajaria reportedly ‘fed up’ with the couple’s lack of follow-through and what they perceive as poor communication. The unraveling of this once-lucrative alliance spotlights broader challenges the Sussexes face in translating their royal notoriety into sustainable Hollywood careers.

The $60 Million Gamble: How Netflix Bet on Meghan and Harry

When Netflix signed Meghan Markle and Prince Harry to a multi-year exclusive deal in September 2020, the announcement was met with fanfare. The Sussexes were expected to create scripted and unscripted content for a global audience, but the centerpiece was a high-profile docuseries chronicling their departure from royal life. Industry insiders say the deal was valued at approximately $60 million, a figure sourced from two individuals familiar with the agreement. The pitch was compelling: a couple with global name recognition, a compelling personal narrative, and the clout to attract top talent and audiences. At the time, Netflix was aggressively expanding its original content slate and saw the Sussexes as a strategic asset to compete in the prestige documentary space.

The Race to Land the Sussexes: A High-Stakes Bidding War

Before Netflix swooped in, Meghan and Harry were courted by every major media conglomerate. Disney, Apple, Warner Bros. Discovery, and NBCUniversal all pursued the couple, with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav particularly interested in securing their services. According to a source familiar with Zaslav’s pitch, the executive was eager to land a project that could rival Netflix’s documentary ambitions. But Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-CEO and co-chairman, viewed the Sussexes as a crown jewel in his content strategy. He personally negotiated the deal, leveraging Netflix’s deep pockets and global reach to outbid competitors. The move was seen as a statement: Netflix was not just a streaming service but a cultural force capable of elevating personalities into multimedia empires.

From Docuseries to Lifestyle Brand: How Archewell Lost Its Way

The Sussexes’ initial project, the docuseries "Harry & Meghan," was intended to be the cornerstone of their Netflix partnership. Premiering in December 2022, it set a record for Netflix documentaries, amassing 81.55 million viewing hours in its first four days. However, the project faced early setbacks. Lana Wilson (director of Taylor Swift’s *Miss Americana*) was originally attached but never formally signed on, and Garrett Bradley (*Naomi Osaka*) briefly came aboard before departing due to creative differences. Sarandos ultimately appealed to Oscar nominee Liz Garbus (*Ghosts of Abu Ghraib*) to take the helm. During postproduction, tensions flared when Meghan reportedly requested edits to the final cut, citing concerns about upsetting the royal family, particularly Queen Elizabeth II, who had passed away months earlier. Garbus declined to comment, but sources inside Netflix suggested the edits were motivated by a desire to preserve Harry’s memoir, *Spare*, as an exclusive source of new revelations.

The Oprah Interview, the Memoir, and the Culture Clash

Just months into their Netflix deal, the Sussexes’ February 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey became a cultural earthquake. While the agreement allowed them to participate in external projects, Netflix executives were reportedly blindsided by the interview’s content and timing. Sources say the streamer only learned about the interview at the last minute, a miscommunication that irked Sarandos. The interview, which drew 17.1 million live viewers on CBS, further complicated Netflix’s plans when Penguin Random House announced Prince Harry’s memoir, *Spare*, slated for release in late 2022. Netflix, feeling sandwiched between the memoir and its own docuseries, accelerated the release of "Harry & Meghan" to December 2022, before *Spare* hit shelves in January 2023. The memoir became the fastest-selling nonfiction book of all time, earning Harry an estimated $40 million advance. The coup de grâce came when Spotify’s head of talk strategy, Bill Simmons, publicly called the Sussexes "fucking grifters" in a 2023 podcast episode, echoing growing skepticism in Hollywood about their celebrity-to-content strategy.

As Ever: The Failed Lifestyle Venture That Cost Netflix Millions

By 2023, Archewell Productions had pivoted away from ambitious scripted projects to focus on Meghan’s consumer brand, As Ever. The venture, which offered tea, baking mixes, and other lifestyle products, was heavily subsidized by Netflix, which reportedly spent millions on inventory. However, the brand struggled to gain traction. After the second season of Meghan’s lifestyle series, *With Love, Meghan*, underperformed compared to the first, Netflix began distributing As Ever products to employees as freebies. Sources say the streamer had planned to gradually transition the brand back to Archewell’s control, but the experiment fizzled. In August 2024, Netflix and the Sussexes downgraded their deal from an exclusive arrangement to a first-look pact, a move insiders describe as a de facto divorce. The decision came as Meghan hired Devin Pedzwater, a former Goop creative director, to revamp As Ever—a signal that Netflix was washing its hands of the lifestyle venture.

Meghan’s Leadership Style: Praise, Criticism, and Communication Breakdowns

Insiders describe Meghan as highly engaged but domineering in meetings, often interrupting Prince Harry mid-sentence or recasting his thoughts during discussions with Netflix executives. Harry has denied these claims, calling them "categorically false." Meghan’s legal team, in a letter to *Variety*, attributed such behavior to misogynistic stereotypes, while her attorney, Michael J. Kump, noted that she often works from home with young children, occasionally stepping away from virtual meetings to attend to family matters. However, sources say her absence from calls was sometimes attributed to perceived slights, leading to friction with Netflix’s marketing and content teams. Prince Harry’s solo project, *Polo*, a five-episode unscripted series about his friend Nacho Figueras, marked a rare moment of visibility for him outside Meghan’s orbit—yet it failed to revive broader interest in the couple’s Netflix slate.

Hollywood’s Growing Disillusionment: Why the Industry Turned Its Back

By 2024, the entertainment industry’s enthusiasm for the Sussexes had waned. A-list talent and directors hesitated to collaborate with Archewell, viewing the projects as high-risk or commercially unviable. Scripted endeavors, including the animated series *Pearl* and adaptations of novels like *The Wedding Date* and *Meet Me at the Lake*, stalled in development. Meghan’s 2023 signing with WME, a top talent agency, did little to improve her standing; key team members, including Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel and Brad Slater, dropped off her account shortly after she joined. The agency still represents her, but the shift underscored her waning industry cachet. Meanwhile, Netflix’s attempt to reposition Archewell as a content buyer at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival backfired. The Sussexes expressed interest in projects like *Skywalkers: A Love Story* and a Christopher Reeve documentary, *Super/Man*, but no deals materialized. The Reeve documentary ultimately sold to Warner Bros.’ DC Films for $15 million, less than what Archewell proposed. Netflix later acquired *Skywalkers* for its main library, but sources say no one involved in the bidding process wanted Archewell as a partner. Jeff Zimbalist, a producer on *Skywalkers*, confirmed that neither the Sussexes nor Archewell were ever mentioned during negotiations.

The Aftermath: What’s Next for Meghan and Harry’s Hollywood Ambitions

As of March 2025, the Sussexes’ relationship with Netflix is effectively over. The streamer has divested from As Ever, and Archewell’s remaining scripted projects—including adaptations of *The Wedding Date* and *Meet Me at the Lake*—are in limbo. Meghan has hinted at exploring shorter-form content, such as two-minute recipe clips, to revive the brand, but industry observers remain skeptical. The couple’s once-promising Hollywood odyssey has devolved into a cautionary tale about the challenges of translating royal fame into creative success. Even Ted Sarandos, who once praised Meghan’s cultural influence, acknowledged in a March 2025 interview that the Sussexes were "overly dismissed"—a testament to their fractured legacy in the streaming era. For now, the Sussexes’ Hollywood dreams appear to be fading, leaving behind a trail of unmet expectations and a cautionary tale for other celebrity-entrepreneurs.

Key Takeaways: The Fall of Meghan and Harry’s Netflix Empire

• Netflix’s $60 million deal with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, signed in 2020, has collapsed after six years of underwhelming content, poor ratings, and creative clashes.
• The Sussexes’ pivot from a planned docuseries to a lifestyle brand, As Ever, proved disastrous, with Netflix divesting from the venture amid $10 million in unsold inventory.
• Frequent miscommunications, including blindsiding Netflix about the 2021 Oprah interview and Prince Harry’s memoir, eroded trust between the couple and the streamer.
• Hollywood’s skepticism toward the Sussexes deepened after criticism from industry figures like Spotify’s Bill Simmons and UTA’s Jeremy Zimmer, who dismissed their creative ambitions.
• Archewell’s remaining scripted projects are stalled, and the couple’s influence in Hollywood is at an all-time low, with no major sales or partnerships in sight.

Frequently Asked Questions About Meghan and Harry’s Netflix Partnership