Meghan Markle’s return to the U.K. could come with a huge new TV role.
Markle is in early talks for a role in Season 3 of Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series The Gentlemen, reports royal commentator Bronte McCoy. She told the BBC on Friday that Markle and Prince Harry’s surprise announcement that they would be leaving Los Angeles to return to the U.K. for an “extended period” is related.
Reporting for The Royalist, the Daily Beast’s Tom Sykes adds that Markle’s camp declined to comment on the record when asked about the new gig, but that “sources close to Meghan hinted to me that the rumor was true.”
“I think when we all heard that news that Harry and Meghan were moving here, and within a matter of days, and the kids were enrolled in school, everyone was asking, what is Meghan going to be doing?” Variety asked the Suits star, 45, whether she had plans to return to acting in 2022. “No. I’m done,” she said at the time. “I guess never say never, but my intention is to absolutely not.”
The Sussexes will leave the States for a private residence believed to be outside of London. Their children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, have been enrolled at a British school and are due to start in September. The Duke or Duchess are not expected to resume official duties as working members of the Royal family upon their return.
News of Markle’s potential team-up with Ritchie follows the filmmaker’s clashes with his neighbor, media mogul and Daily Mail owner Lord Rothermere, over Ritchie’s land expansion. Prince Harry notably owes the Daily Mail a large sum after he and seven co-claimants—including Sir Elton John and actress Elizabeth Hurley—were ordered to pay the site’s legal fees following a failed violation of privacy case on Friday.
Markle’s role in the Ritchie series remains unconfirmed, and Netflix has not officially renewed it for a third season—as such, there is no contract in place. The series, which also stars Theo James, Kaya Scodelario, Daniel Ings, and Joely Richardson, premieres its second season on Sept. 3.
Markle first ended her eight-year break from scripted television with a cameo in the Amazon MGM Studios film, Close Personal Friends, which was announced last year.
The Gentlemen series is a standalone expansion of the universe in Ritchie’s 2019 film of the same name. News of Markle’s potential gig also comes amid her and her husband’s $ 100 million production deal with Netflix, which has so far included their doc series Harry & Meghan and Markle’s homemaking series With Love, Meghan. The deal has since been downgraded amid rumors of discord with the streamer.
Before meeting Harry, Meghan was best known for her part in the drama Suits. She played lawyer Rachel Zane for seven seasons until her last episode aired in 2018.
