Before Meghan Markle was the Duchess of Sussex and the rebel of the U.K.’s royal family, she was paralegal Rachel Zane in Suits. The legal drama was liked when it aired but is beloved now, with its success on Netflix in 2023 proving there’s still hunger for the good old network drama.
While there’s no sign of her appearing in the spin-off Suits L.A., we may get one last taste of Markle in the role if her on-screen husband’s wishes come true. Suits lead Patrick J Adams and his co-star Sarah Rafferty are keen to get her to appear on Sidebar: A Suits Watch Podcast, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Rafferty, who starred as Donna Paulsen, said, “Everybody’s invited, and everybody has been so supportive,” when asked if Markle has been invited as a guest.
The podcast’s format follows the typical recap structure. The actors are watching the show in full for the first time, inviting co-stars and creatives to discuss how the series came to be. The first episode was released in Sep. 2024.
The last time we saw Adams’ Mike Ross and Markle’s Rachel together, they tied the knot in the season 9 episode “Good-Bye”. Markle starred for seven seasons before exiting following her engagement to Prince Harry.
The Suits resurgence
Markle isn’t attached to the L.A. spin-off, nor did she guest star on the short-lived Pearson offshoot, but she has commented on Suits‘ boom in popularity. She had positive things to say during Variety’s Power of Women event in November 2023, “It was great to work on, such a great cast and crew. We had such a fun time. I was on it for seven seasons – so quite a bit.” She also reacted to the streaming viewership, calling the figure “wild.”
Suits ended years ago after nine seasons but became Netflix’s most-streamed show of 2023. Prevailing thought points to its traditional network episode counts, long-running tenure, and old-school episodic arcs. Those things are all but extinct in modern streaming, with that approach to fiction saved for cable shows.
Markle hasn’t been making many public appearances in 2024, save for charity events. She has avoided the spotlight when it’s not connected to a good cause. So much so that it has led to rumors swirling around Harry going to things solo.
Being that Rachel was her breakout acting role and there doesn’t seem to be any bad blood between Markle, Rafferty, and Adams, she could very well make an exception for the podcast. However, Rafferty was careful with her words when asked, just saying that the invite had been extended and not that it was accepted. As of Oct. 10, only the show’s creator Aaron Korsh has guest-starred. It’s still early days though.
It would be great to see Markle in a low-pressure interview. One where royal popularity contests, divorce rumors, and questions about her real-life character aren’t in the mix. If I were her, I’d find that refreshing. But the likelihood seems slight, as she hasn’t indulged in her acting career in years.
Time will tell, but if she is to appear we suspect the episode will be sooner rather than later, given what her name is likely to do for the podcast’s listening minutes. If you’ve got the big guns, why not use them as soon as possible..
