Almost exactly a year ago Meghan Markle made her official return from maternity leave, debuting a capsule collection of clothing with SmartWorks that, along with her guest-editor role at British Vogue that summer, proved she’d never really stopped working at all.

Now living quietly at their new home in Southern California, Meghan and Prince Harry have been ostensibly “off,” waiting out the pandemic with their son Archie and delaying the launch of their foundation, Archewell.

But anyone who’s been paying attention likely expected them to have something big up their sleeve, and they [have] revealed it, announcing a production company and a lucrative deal with Netflix.

In a statement the couple confirmed that they will be creating content for the network “that informs but also gives hope” and will have a focus on making “inspirational family programming.”

Last month a source close to the Sussexes told Vanity Fair that the couple had turned their attention to TV production as they embark on solo careers, now that they are no longer working members of the Royal Family and must fund themselves. While there has been speculation in the press that Meghan plans to resume her career as an actress the source stressed that future TV projects would involve the couple making TV shows and that the Duchess has “no plans to return to acting.” The source also said that the couple is keen to create original content “about issues and subjects that mean something to the couple and are in line with their views.”

While Meghan already has connections with some of Hollywood’s biggest studios, it will be a new direction for Harry, but not his first TV project. A series with Oprah Winfrey on mental health for Apple TV is “still going ahead,” according to a source close to the royal. Meanwhile Harry has also worked closely with the filmmakers of the documentary Rising Phoenix, in which he also appears, which premiered in August on Netflix.

When Meghan and Harry first announced their exit from the royal family in January, Michelle Ruiz wrote for Vanity Fair that the Sussexes had “long been on a path to transition from rank-and-file royals to global superstars, in the vein of their friends George and Amal Clooney, Barack and Michelle Obama, or Beyoncé and Jay-Z.”
According to the couple’s biographer Omid Scobie, the Netflix deal makes the comparison to the Obamas—whose Higher Ground production company also works with Netflix— even more apt. “Think of a working model not too dissimilar to what the Obamas created after leaving the White House,” he said. “When they set up their Higher Ground production company and later signed a multi-year production deal with Netflix to produce movies and documentaries that cover issues such as race, class, democracy and civil rights.”

With their new 14 million dollars home in Montecito the Sussexes need to start making money, and they have been advised that TV production as the way forward. And given the comments that Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief executive, made about how anyone in Hollywood would love to work with them, the production deal comes as even less of a surprise.

According to sources involved with their TV work Harry and Meghan are keen to make a TV series on mental health. Expect another announcement soon.

-Courtesy: Vanity Fair