At a recent private Netflix event, attended by execs and A-listers alike, John Mulaney hyped up his own upcoming talk show on the platform with a right royal roast. “Not since Harry and Meghan has Netflix given so much money to someone without a specific plan,” the comedian burned.
The fact that Mulaney landed such a dig at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at an official Netflix event just goes to show how open a secret it is that the company’s costly partnership with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex hasn’t turned out as expected. Estimated to have cost a whopping $100 million, Netflix no doubt thought it was onto a winner when it signed the Sussexes up to make a slate of original programming for the service back in 2020.
Unfortunately, the five-year contract is shortly about to elapse and the couple have only produced four projects in that time, with 2022’s Harry & Meghan docuseries being the only one to make any kind of waves. 2023’s Live to Lead, an aspirational series about leaders in different walks of life, failed to inspire, while that same year’s Heart of Invictus and 2024’s POLO were two sports docs from Harry that didn’t touch down with audiences.
A fifth, and final, project to come from this original contract is due this March, but is there more to come from Harry and Meghan after the initial deal is over? A Netflix exec has now revealed all.
Netflix boss weighs in on the potential for more Harry and Meghan projects
Good news, any Harry and Meg loyalists out there, Netflix seems eager to keep its partnership with the Sussexes going beyond the ending of their five-year deal. The company’s chief content officer, Bela Bajaria, gushed to The Daily Mail over how “excited” she and the rest of the platform’s team is about With Love, Meghan, Markle’s new cookery show which is scheduled for March 4.
“We have Meghan’s new show coming out, which is great,” Bajaria said. “It is such a great take on a lifestyle show and showcase for California, Montecito and nature. It really has great takeaways. I was like ‘oh my God, I want to really do that pasta.’ There’s really easy great takeaways on life. I am really excited about that coming out.”
What’s more intriguing than talk of Meghan’s pasta recipes, though, is that Bajaria confirmed the couple have more projects in the works at Netflix. This includes an adaptation of the best-selling romance novel Meet Me at the Lake, which will be the first drama production to come from the duo’s Netflix partnership. In other words, Netflix is still all aboard the Harry and Meg train. “And we have things in development,” Bajaria teased. “Everyone is excited about what is coming. I am really excited for her show.”
With Love, Meghan has already traveled a bumpy road, what with its original January slot delayed due to the LA fires and its light-hearted trailer being criticized by some streaming snobs as low-brow reality TV. In many ways, then, it’s surprising to hear that Netflix is so very “excited” about what the Sussexes have in store and that there’s no end in sight to their collaboration. That said, we’d imagine Netflix would be reluctant to sign another expensive multi-year deal and will handle things on a case-by-case basis from now on. That John Mulaney gag had to sting.
Published: Feb 4, 2025 08:12 am