Netflix has “quietly dropped” Meghan Markle’s animated TV series almost two years after signing a multi-million dollar deal with her and Prince Harry.
The show, Pearl, was announced in July 2021 and was to be produced by Elton John’s husband, David Furnish, with rumours of a star-studded voice acting cast in the works.
Aimed at young girls, the series would follow a 12-year-old inspired by influential women throughout history and was in the development stage as of recently.
But streaming giant Netflix has reportedly scrapped the series amid plummeting subscriber numbers, according to Deadline.
Pearl was among a number of animated shows said to be removed from the streaming service’s upcoming roster, as it tries to maintain audience interest.
Its cancellation means that now, more than 18 months after Harry and Meghan signed their landmark deal with Netflix, the couple have yet to produce any content for the streaming service.
Harry is currently working on a docu-series titled Heart of Invictus, which goes inside the Invictus Games, which he started in 2014.
WATCH: Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex’s cute moment at the Invictus games. Story continues after video.
A Netflix film crew travelled with him to The Hague in the Netherlands last month to film while he attended the 2022 games, with wife Meghan accompanying him for several outings at the start of the event.
But the series isn’t set to release until late this year or early next, meaning we may not see the fruits of the Sussex’s Netflix deal until 2023.
News of the deal was met with much fanfare in September 2020, when the couple first signed on the dotted line, but now fans are wondering if they’ll ever see an Archewell Production on the small screen.
Harry and Meghan also signed a multi-million dollar deal with Spotify around the same time but have only released one podcast episode in the almost two years since.
The deals were part of a massive career shift for the couple following their royal exit in March 2020, but the Duke and Duchess of Sussex appear to have been prioritising private family time since.
They’ve made several brief appearances in the US, as well as one joint visit to the UK in private and their recent trip to the Netherlands.
However, the couple have chosen to keep their children Archie, two, and Lilibet, almost one, out of the spotlight and spend much time away from the public eye with them.