Why Netflix is unlikely to renew Harry and Meghan’s multimillion-dollar deal
The couple's Netflix series Harry & Meghan was the streamer’s most-watched subscription TV series last year. Photo / Netflix
Netflix is reportedly unlikely to renew its multimillion-dollar deal with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Their Netflix series Harry & Meghan was the streamer’s most-watched subscription TV series last year, but the pair have no plans for a follow-up - and now Netflix bosses believe “the lemon has been fully squeezed”.
It comes after the announcement that Meghan had lost her US$20 million ($41m) deal with Spotify after her podcast series Archetypes delivered just 12 episodes in 27 months.
One executive at Spotify labelled the Sussexes “f***ing grifters” on his own podcast over the weekend.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.The reported NZ$160m Netflix deal was first announced in 2020 and is believed to have been paid to the couple in instalments.
But the streaming bosses now feel Meghan “lives in her own bubble” and has not “grasped the economic reality”.
“There is a less friendly attitude from some at the top. The feeling is that the lemon has been fully squeezed,” one source said.
“The big bucks Harry and Meghan signed on for do not exist today.”
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.The Sun on Sunday reports that the pair are determined to see through their contractual obligations to Netflix.
Harry’s already-filmed Invictus Games series is set to screen later this year.
Another series Meghan had planned for Netflix, an animated series with the working title Pearl, was dropped last year.
She was creating the show through the Sussexes’ company Archewell Productions.
She’s said to be in talks with other companies after her podcast was pulled by “mutual agreement” with Spotify bosses.
Spotify’s Head of Podcast Innovation at Spotify Bill Simmons spoke out on his own podcast on Friday, saying of Harry and Meghan, “The f***ing grifters. That’s the podcast we should have launched with them.
“I’ve got to get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to try to help him with a podcast idea. It’s one of my best stories.”
