Meghan Markle Dropped From ‘The Gentlemen’ Role After UK Backlash
Tina Brown Says Guy Ritchie Series Withdrew Reported Casting Hours After Talks Emerged
Meghan Markle has reportedly been dropped from a potential role in the third season of Netflix’s hit crime drama The Gentlemen, just hours after reports emerged that she was in discussions to join the Guy Ritchie series.
The Duchess of Sussex had reportedly been in talks for a role in the upcoming season. Variety reported on August 22 that Markle was in discussions to join Season 3, although her role had not been revealed and no contract had been signed. The third season itself had also not yet received an official green light.
However, veteran journalist and former Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Tina Brown subsequently claimed that Markle’s reported casting had been withdrawn following what she described as intense backlash in the UK.
“I learned this morning that the casting of Meghan Markle in season 3 of Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series The Gentlemen has been withdrawn,” Brown wrote in a post on Substack. She added that the backlash in Britain had been so intense that it had become “untenable” to proceed.
The Hollywood Reporter also reported that Markle had been in advanced discussions for the project, with the role reportedly being developed for the third season. Netflix has not officially confirmed Markle’s casting or commented on the reported withdrawal.
The development is a setback for Markle’s reported return to scripted acting. She became widely known for playing Rachel Zane in the legal drama Suits, leaving the series in 2017 before marrying Prince Harry in 2018. She has largely stepped away from conventional acting since then, although she is set to make a cameo appearance in the upcoming film Close Personal Friends.
The Gentlemen is a television spin-off of Ritchie’s 2019 film of the same name. The series stars Theo James as an aristocrat who inherits a large estate and discovers that it is connected to an underground cannabis empire. Its second season is scheduled to premiere on September 3.
The reported casting controversy comes amid renewed attention on Meghan and Prince Harry’s plans to spend more time in the UK. The couple are reportedly returning to Britain with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, after several years living in California. Reports say the children are expected to attend school in the UK from September.
The reported move has also been linked to Meghan’s professional prospects in Britain, although the couple are not expected to resume their former roles as working members of the royal family. The family is reportedly planning to live in a private residence outside London while retaining their California home.
The The Gentlemen development therefore leaves Meghan’s reported UK acting comeback uncertain. For now, there has been no official confirmation from Netflix, Markle or the production team that she was formally cast or that the role has been permanently scrapped.