The world is catching fire and World War III might be about to kick off, but the top story of 2020 so far is Prince Harry and Meghan Markle effectively quitting the British Royal Family. In the wake of intrusion by the British tabloid press, the pair said they’re stepping back from Royal duties, will no longer be referred to as Royal Highnesses and will no longer receive public money. So, how are they going to put food on the table?
Well, Deadline is reporting that they may get a Netflix deal. The streaming network’s Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos was asked at the Producers Guild Awards whether they’d be interested and he replied as so:
“Who wouldn’t be interested? Yes, sure.”
Deadline then goes on to say that The Crown would be a “logical landing place” for them. That’s a bit of a head-scratcher, as it seems to be implying that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle would play themselves in the later seasons of the acclaimed drama. That would be a pretty wild bit of casting, but surely they must be kidding that it could happen. Even though Meghan Markle is a professional actor and no doubt would knock playing herself out of the park, it’d be such a distracting bit of stunt casting that it’d ruin the show.
Much more likely is a documentary about the couple and their problems with the media, perhaps also showing the change in life from being active members of the Royal family to a more normal life (well, relatively speaking).
Whoever plays them, the creative team behind The Crown must be rubbing their fingers together about adapting the events of the last few weeks for the show. My bet is that they’re secretly hoping Queen Elizabeth II dies before they produce season 6, so as to give them a story that spans her entire life. But if she doesn’t, showing the beginnings of the (hopefully complete) dissolution of the family is as good a way as any to close things out.