Meghan Markle’s Hollywood agents are in “advanced talks” over a massive TV comeback deal…..in a new spinoff of her hit show Suits, a top studio source has revealed.
Bosses at NBCUniversal have greenlit a big-budget sequel to the original series by Suits creator Aaron Korsch – and are prepared to pay “whatever it takes” for the Duchess of Sussex to reprise her role in the legal drama.
This follows the phenomenal and wholly unexpected success of re-runs on Netflix, where Suits has become America’s most downloaded show, topping the streaming top ten for 15 out of the past 18 weeks and racking up more than 45.4 billion minutes of viewing time.
And our senior production source confirms: “It was always a show that enjoyed limited success but its rebirth on Netflix has propelled it into a whole new realm and a new spinoff can turn Meghan into one of the world’s highest-paid TV stars.”
The source added that Meghan’s powerhouse agency WME is in “advanced talks” with NBC executives over her reprising her hugely popular role as paralegal Rachel Zane and went on: “She’s the key player here and they’re ready to pay whatever it takes.”
This would completely reverse a statement issued by WME when she signed for the agency in April that insisted: “There will be no focus on acting or building Meghan’s career around becoming a movie star.”
All that has changed, however, with the astonishing surge in interest in her old Suits episodes on Netflix. Meghan, 42, appeared in 108 of the original show’s 134 episodes over seven seasons, quitting in 2018 after announcing her engagement to Prince Harry.
As a rising star, her salary steadily increased to $50,000 per episode for her last two seasons but our source reckons: “She can now command many times that figure. But it will all come down to how much she wants to commit herself to a new series.
“If she doesn’t have time to join her old cast-mates full time, she could be offered instead a string of very lucrative special guest appearances. NBC chiefs are in no doubt that millions of younger new fans, whose interest has been sparked by Netflix, want to see more of her.”
Although few details are yet known about the untitled Suits spinoff, a studio source confirmed that it will be set in Los Angeles instead of New York, where the original series was fictionally located despite actually being filmed in Toronto, Canada.
Meghan is also known to be firm friends with show creator Aaron Korsch, who will also executive produce the spinoff and has been involved in negotiations with other former Suits stars, including Canadian actor Patrick J. Adams, who is also still close to the Duchess.
The potential financial boost from Suits comes as Meghan and Prince Harry’s own production company Archewell recovers from the crippling actors’ and writers’ strikes that brought Hollywood to a standstill as well as losing their $20 million contract with audio giant Spotify last summer.
Archewell’s $100m five-year contract with Netflix is also up for renewal in 2025, adding further pressure on the royal couple to sustain the company’s growth while maintaining their lifestyle in their $14.6 million mansion in Montecito, 95 miles north of LA.
Meghan is also reportedly poised to launch her new lifestyle blog as an upscale online influencer in the New Year – and has been networking with A List stars like Gwyneth Paltrow who have made fortunes from similar ventures.
But her main focus on Thursday night – as she attended a Power of Women red carpet gala in Hollywood, posing alongside celebrities including Billie Eilish, Margot Robbie and Carey Mulligan – appeared to be firmly on the family business.
She said she was “thrilled” to have returned to the entertainment industry and “really proud” of Archewell’s projects to date, adding that she and Prince Harry “have so many exciting things on the slate.
“I can’t wait until we can announce them, but I’m just really proud of what we’re creating. My husband is loving it too, which is really fun.” The Duchess also told Variety she had “no idea” what has inspired the phenomenal renewed success of Suits.
But she added: “It was a great show to work on, such a great cast and crew. We had a really fun time. I was on it for seven seasons, so quite a bit. But it’s hard to find a show you can binge-watch that many episodes of these days, so that could have something to do with it. But good shows are everlasting.”
Calls to both Archewell and NBC requesting comments on the new Suits spinoff series, which could start shooting as early as spring, were not returned.
