After starring in ‘Suits,’ Meghan stepped away from the show before marrying Prince Harry
Credit: Jim Poorten/NBAE via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Meghan Markle is in talks to return to acting with a role in the Guy Ritchie Netflix drama The Gentlemen
- Insiders tell PEOPLE that she and Prince Harry had been discussing a potential return to acting for some time
- Asked in 2022 whether she would ever return to acting, the former Suits star said, “I’m done”
Insiders say Meghan Markle and Prince Harry had been discussing Meghan’s return to acting for some time before an opportunity arose.
PEOPLE learned last week that the Duchess of Sussex, 45, is in talks to join Guy Ritchie’s Netflix drama The Gentlemen, which would be her biggest on-screen project since leaving Suits.
Meghan was living in Toronto to film the legal drama in 2016 when she first met Prince Harry. She stepped away from the show ahead of their wedding in 2018.
Even after stepping back from their royal roles in 2020 and relocating to California, Meghan didn’t seem interested in a return to acting. “I guess never say never, but my intention is to absolutely not,” she told Variety in a 2022 interview.
Credit: Ian Watson/USA Network/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty
However, sources told PEOPLE in this week’s cover story that Meghan and Harry, 41, had been discussing her return to acting even before talks for The Gentlemen.
In recent years, she’s dabbled in on-screen projects, filming two seasons and a holiday special for her Netflix lifestyle show With Love, Meghan, which premiered in 2025, and a cameo as herself in Close Personal Friends, an upcoming movie starring Lily Collins and Jack Quaid.
Meghan was spotted on the Pasadena, Calif., set of the film in November 2025, with a source telling PEOPLE she appeared “very relaxed and happy.”
“She introduced herself to everyone and was very sweet and down-to-earth,” the source said at the time.
With talks underway for a role on The Gentlemen, the role did help shape the timing of Meghan and Prince Harry’s move back to Britain with their children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5.
The show — with a cast that includes Theo James, Kaya Scodelario and Giancarlo Esposito — is filmed in the U.K. and is set in England. Its renewal for a third season was announced on Aug. 24, with Variety reporting at the time that the new episodes were already in pre-production and scripts were being finalized.
During an appearance at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Wednesday, Aug. 26, Manda Levin, Netflix’s scripted chief in the U.K., gave a cryptic answer when asked about Meghan’s rumored casting.
“All bets are off,” she replied.
Credit: Christopher Raphael/Netflix
On Aug. 19, PEOPLE revealed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were relocating to the U.K. for an extended period of time, with plans to establish a private, non-royal home in England and have the children start school in September.
A week later, PEOPLE confirmed that the family had arrived back on U.K. soil, landing in Birmingham after flying privately from California.
Meghan has a history with Netflix. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed a deal with Netflix in 2020 to create documentaries, docu-series, feature films, scripted shows and children’s programming exclusively for the streaming giant, through a production company later named Archewell Productions. In 2025, they announced with Netflix that they are extending their creative partnership with a multi-year, first-look deal for film and television projects.
The couple’s 2022 docuseries Harry & Meghan became one of Netflix’s most-watched documentary debuts, and the pair also produced Live to Lead (2022), Heart of Invictus (2023) and Polo (2024). Meghan also starred in two seasons plus a holiday episode of her lifestyle series With Love, Meghan for the streamer.
Read the full article here
