$100 Million Sussex Misfire: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Netflix Deal Labeled a 'Coup’ Toward Company From the 'F------ Grifters'

"Believe it or not," this fall will mark four years of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's reported $100 million dollar deal with Netflix. During this lengthy period, the pair have given the streaming giant three documentaries — and only one, 2022's Harry & Meghan, was a hit. Their original contract called for "movies, scripted content, children's programming, and more," yet very little if any of this has been produced. Could it be that Team Sussex has "worn out their welcome in Hollywood?"

In addition to their blockbuster, "incendiary" self-titled docu-series in December 2022, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex also produced Live to Lead, which was a non-fiction series about "inspiring world leaders" that went nowhere on the platform. Heart of Invictus, another documentary about Prince Harry's Invictus Games, dropped in August 2023 and quickly flopped as well. Meghan's proposed animated series, Pearl, was scrapped in the spring of 2022.

"Everything with them was fraught and complicated because they wanted complete control," a Hollywood insider spilled. Another Tinseltown source that was close to the goings on of the pair's Archewell Productions, dished: "It appears that they just want what they want and won’t take advice," when highlighting the duo's apparent "stubbornness."

"Taking on Harry and Meghan was a great coup for Netflix," PR expert Mark Borkowski told an outlet. "It probably got a lot of eyeballs and subscriptions, but they [Harry and Markle] never delivered," he claimed before further adding about the Montecito twosome: "The amount of income this pair has to raise is enormous."

Another insider pointed out that Harry and Meghan's deal with the company is an "overhead agreement," which means the ex-working royals will not receive the full $100 million since some of it also funds their staff at the company.

More insights into the pair's working dynamic have also been revealed, with a source stating how "Harry and Meghan made the collaborative process very hard, to the point that there was no collaboration at all," which points to the royal rebels being difficult to work with.

As for the future of their deal, which is set to expire in the autumn of 2025, a romantic comedy film called Meet Me at the Lake, based on Carley Fortune's novel was planned but seems to have stalled.

"They have a couple of unscripted things they’re working on with Brandon [Reigg]," Netflix’s Chief Content Officer, Bela Bajaria, said in an interview earlier this year.

But the Netflix deal seems to have been "something of a dud," although some blame COVID and the writer's strike in Hollywood in 2023 as "contributing factors" to their lackluster deal.

Archewell also seems to be in shambles on top of it all. "Meghan and Harry don’t have a quality team around them," Borkowski added. "They drive this ship, they are in the wheelhouse. Whether you are the Obamas or Meghan and Harry, you have to defer to people who can really get the job done. They just need to sort out a proper production company, they need significant hires,” he added. “People who can actually develop scripts, wrangle talent."

The Wrap reported on the insider revelations.