There has been speculation that Meghan Markle was set to make her return to acting following her return to the UK. A rumoured role in Guy Ritchie’s show The Gentlemen was on the table... and has now apparently been withdrawn “after intense backlash in the UK”...
Ever since last week's news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were planning to move back to the UK for an “extended period” following six years of living in California, the rumour mill has been working overtime.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
It’s hardly surprising considering how divisive Markle is as a public figure and how the British press has piled on repeatedly when it comes to criticising every move she makes.
Alongside the headline-grabbing news that the couple are returning to the UK after a very public and controversial break with the British royal family, there have been contradictory reports that Markle would be returning to acting.
The main speculation has been that Markle was being considered to join Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series The Gentlemen upon her return to England. Australian news outlet News.com.au reported that she had been “offered a role in an upcoming project based in the UK”. Variety subsequently reported that this role would be in the planned third season of the series spin-off of Ritchie’s 2019 movie of the same name.
The project would make sense, as Markle and Prince Harry’s Archewell Productions already has a working relationship with Netflix – with the companies having produced Markle’s critically savaged lifestyle show With Love, Meghan, as well as poorly received projects like Harry & Meghan, Polo, and the docuseries Heart of Invictus.
However, it now seems that the offer to star in The Gentlemen has been withdrawn – if it even existed in the first place.
Tina Brown, the former editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair and the New Yorker, wrote this weekend: “I learned this morning that the casting of Meghan Markle in season 3 of Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series The Gentlemen has been withdrawn. The backlash in the UK was so intense, it became untenable to go forward.”
It is unclear whether the story was originally planted to generate publicity or if it was fake to begin with. Whatever the case may be, if Markle was planning to make an acting comeback, it won’t be smooth sailing.
Primarily known for her role as Rachel Zane in the legal drama Suits, Markle stepped back from the small screen in 2017 before she married Prince Harry.
Her other small screen appearances include CSI: NY, 90210, Fringe and Castle. Her film roles have included small parts in Horrible Bosses (2011), Dysfunctional Friends (2012) and Anti-Social (2015). She also led two Hallmark movies: When Sparks Fly (2014) and Dater’s Handbook (2016).
She recently filmed a cameo playing herself in the Amazon comedy Close Personal Friends alongside Brie Larson, Lily Collins and Jack Quaid. A release date has yet to be announced.
