Meghan Markle No Longer Being Considered To Join Netflix’s ‘The Gentlemen,’ Report Says
Meghan Markle’s aspirations to return to acting in director Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series "The Gentlemen" have apparently been dashed.
By Cyrus Team ·
Meghan Markle’s aspirations to return to acting in director Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series The Gentlemen have apparently been dashed.
Markle, whose acting credits include the series Suits, was in the “very early stages” of talks to join the third season of the U.K.-based crime comedy, although Netflix has yet to renew the show, Deadline reported on Friday.
On Saturday, Tina Brown — the former editor-in-chief of The New Yorker and Vanity Fair — said the idea of casting the Duchess of Sussex in the series was not moving forward the news was met with an “intense backlash” in the U.K.
“I learned this morning that the casting of Meghan Markle in season 3 of Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series The Gentlemen has been withdrawn,” Brown wrote in her Fresh Hell column on Substack. “The backlash in the UK was so intense, it became untenable to go forward. This does not bode well for Meghan’s acting comeback in the UK. More to come.”
Brown’s column follows reports from earlier this week, when Prince Harry and Markle announced that they would be leaving Hollywood and moving their family back to the U.K. after six years in Hollywood.
During that time, Prince Harry and Markle struck a deal with Netflix, which included their six-part docuseries Harry & Meghan, which premiered in 2022. Markle also appeared in the 2025 reality series Love, Meghan, which ran 17 episodes over two seasons. In 2026, Netflix opted not to renew their $100 million deal with Markle and Prince Harry.
Reports Of Meghan Markle’s Return To Acting Broke On Friday
Word of Meghan Markle’s return to acting surfaced in a report from News.com.au, where sources told the publication that the duchess was “offered a role in an upcoming project based in the UK.”
The same day, Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva wrote, “I hear that the former Suits star is in talks to join Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series The Gentlemen for Season 3.”
The Gentlemen, which stars Theo James, is based on Guy Ritchie’s crime comedy of the same name that was released in theaters in 2019. Season 1 of Netflix’s The Gentlemen premiered in 2024, while Season 2 is expected to debut in the fall.
Meghan Markle Began Acting In 2002
Meghan Markle is certainly no stranger to acting, having appeared in about 30 screen projects since 2002. Her last lead acting role was in Suits, a legal drama in which she starred as Rachel Zane opposite Gabriel Macht’s Harvey Spencer and Patrick J. Adams’ Mike Ross.
Markle appeared in 108 episodes of the series over seven seasons, from 2011 to 2018.
Prior to Suits, Markle, 45, appeared in such films as Dysfunctional Friends (2010), Horrible Bosses (2011), Random Encounters (2013) and Anti-Social (2015). Markle’s first credited role came in a guest role in 2002 in an episode of the daytime drama General Hospital.
Markle has also appeared in several guest turns in such TV series as The War at Home, CSI: NY, 90210, Knight Rider, Without a Trace, Fringe, The League, CSI: Miami and Castle.
Markle married Prince Harry on May 19, 2018, officially becoming a member of the British royal family. The duchess and Harry have two children, Princess Lilibet and Prince Archie.