Meghan Markle's reported casting in The Gentlemen has been withdrawn after claims that the Duchess of Sussex faced intense UK backlash over a potential role in the third season of Guy Ritchie's Netflix crime series. The claim was made by journalist Tina Brown on Saturday, one day after reports emerged that Meghan was in discussions to join the show.
The development remains unconfirmed by Netflix or the production team. The Gentlemen season three has not yet received an official greenlight, according to Variety, meaning Meghan's reported involvement was never publicly confirmed as a final casting decision.
Meghan Markle and The Gentlemen Casting Row
Brown, the former editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, said she had learned that the proposed casting had been abandoned.
'I learned this morning that the casting of Meghan Markle in season 3 of Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen has been withdrawn,' Brown wrote on Saturday. 'The backlash in the UK was so intense, it became untenable to go forward.'
The allegation puts the reported decision in the context of reaction to Meghan's possible return to scripted television rather than an established Netflix casting announcement. No details were provided in the source material about who objected to her potential involvement, how extensive the alleged backlash was, or whether it directly influenced any decision by the production.
For Meghan, the project would have represented another step back towards acting after years spent largely outside scripted television. She became internationally known through Suits, playing Rachel Zane for seven seasons before marrying Prince Harry in 2018 and subsequently stepping away from her acting career.
Her screen credits also include appearances in CSI: NY and 90210, alongside smaller film roles in Horrible Bosses and Anti-Social. She also starred in the Hallmark films When Sparks Fly and Dater's Handbook.
More recently, Meghan filmed a cameo as herself in Amazon's comedy Close Personal Friends, which stars Brie Larson and Jack Quaid.
Why The Gentlemen Role Would Have Mattered
The Gentlemen is a television spin-off of Ritchie's 2019 crime comedy film, which starred Matthew McConaughey and Charlie Hunnam. Ritchie created both the film and the Netflix series, which follows the criminal underworld surrounding an inherited estate.
A role in its third season would therefore have placed Meghan back in a conventional ensemble television production rather than another unscripted or lifestyle project.
That would also have marked a notable change from her recent work with Netflix. Last year, Harry and Meghan signed a new multi-year film and television deal with the streaming company after their original five-year agreement, reportedly worth $100m (£78m), was struck in 2020.
Their projects under that arrangement have included documentaries and Meghan's lifestyle series With Love, Meghan. The latter received mixed and negative reviews from critics, including a one-star review from the Guardian.
The reported Gentlemen casting emerged at an especially sensitive moment for the Sussexes, who are understood to be preparing to return to Britain with their two children after leaving for the US six years ago.
Prince Harry and Meghan are expected to relocate to a property believed to be outside London. King Charles was reportedly informed of the planned move last Sunday.
The timing has given the reported casting story an added layer, although there is no evidence in the source material that the couple's return to Britain was connected to Meghan's discussions with The Gentlemen.
For now, the status of the role is less definitive than the headline might suggest. There is no official confirmation that Meghan was cast, no public statement from Netflix confirming her withdrawal, and no explanation from the production of whether the role itself remains part of the planned third season.
What is on record is that Meghan was reported to be in talks, that the third season has not been officially greenlit, and that Brown subsequently claimed the proposed casting had been withdrawn because of the UK backlash.
