The Sussexes are now heavily focusing on ‘fictional, scripted content’ for Netflix

The Telegraph continuously tries to convince people that they have “sources” within the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s circle of friends and colleagues. I’ll let you decide for yourself if you believe that’s true. One thing I will give the Telegraph is that some of their Sussex coverage can get almost… “nice.” Or normal, or simply not full of rage and spite. Someone (not named Camilla Tominey) is making a real effort to make it sound like they have sources within Camp Sussex and that those sources are very positive about Meghan and Harry’s work and family. So, now that Harry and Meghan have launched two massively successful projects within a month (the Netflix series and Harry’s memoir), what IS next? According to these sources, Archewell Productions has some scripted rom-coms in the pipeline:

Their Netflix documentary series was billed as their “love story” and they have rarely missed an opportunity to gush about their romance. Now, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex plan to harness their own experiences as star-crossed lovers to make rom coms. The couple, who signed a multi-year deal with Netflix in 2020, are moving away from content about themselves and have several “fun” television series in the pipeline, the Telegraph understands.

“There will be more of a heavy focus on fictional, scripted content,” a source said. “It will be rom coms, feel good and light-hearted programmes.”

The couple will not appear on screen, instead adopting less time-consuming executive producer roles, which will allow them to pursue other projects and philanthropic work.

The development will be considered a welcome respite by those who have found it hard to escape the thoughts of Harry and Meghan in recent months, following the back-to-back releases of the Duchess’s Spotify podcast, Archetypes; their Netflix series and then Prince Harry’s memoir. The couple have kept a low profile since the publication of the Duke’s book, Spare, last month, and are keen to keep their heads down.

“They’ve had enough of being in the spotlight for now,” one friend confirmed. “It was a difficult few weeks in many ways and they want to take a step back.”

Instead, they are understood to be focusing on charity work closer to home, in California, which they can pursue under the radar. Although they were spotted among the guests as their neighbour and television host Ellen DeGeneres renewed her wedding vows to Portia de Rossi last week, they are not expected to undertake any official engagements or travel until the spring. They are also both working on individual projects, including the Duke’s Heart of Invictus documentary series which is due for release this summer.

Despite all of the noise surrounding the Sussexes’ potential appearance at the King’s Coronation, the couple are not thought to have received any formal contact from either the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Royal family, suggesting that the apology and potential reconciliation that the Duke has called for may not be forthcoming.

[From The Telegraph]

We heard something similar once the docuseries drama died down, which was: Harry will promote his memoir, then they’ll be quiet for a while before they blitz us with more work. In general, I believe that. I think we’ve entered an Undercover Sussex Szn. When we see Harry, it will probably be through his BetterUp work. If we see Meghan at all… well, God knows. We probably won’t even see her, we’ll just get some announcements about what she’s working on and/or what projects she’ll be doing next. People believe that she’ll do a second season of Archetypes, and I hope she does. I also hope that her romantic dramas for Netflix aren’t too cheeseball, but I think that’s just her taste. She’s a cheeseball.

It would be so f–king funny to me if they were really quiet for months (or only giving us work updates) and they never said one word about the Chubbly and then didn’t attend. Like, by the time we get to May 6th, it will be a five-month-long shambolic melodrama in the British media and the Sussexes could just choose not to say one word about it.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

45 Responses to “The Sussexes are now heavily focusing on ‘fictional, scripted content’ for Netflix”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. Mabs A'Mabbin says:

    I hope you’re right. Mum’s the word.

  2. Abby says:

    The Telegraph has no Sussex sources. This feels like they’re just guessing.

    I look forward to whatever they put out there. I feel confident it’ll be thoughtful, well-produced and impactful. Even if it’s a rom-com, it’ll be top-notch.

    • Sunday says:

      Exactly, the Telegraph’s only source here is Meghan’s interview in The Cut, in which she specifically mentioned producing rom-coms. So, not exactly insider knowledge.

      • Amy Bee says:

        @Sunday: I was going to say the same thing.

      • Purley Pot says:

        This right here. I also think she mentioned something about rom-coms in the documentary.

      • Ash says:

        Right. They don’t have sources within the Sussex camp, they’ve repeatedly said they won’t be speaking to certain publications including Torygraph, so I’m confused as to why they’re lying.

        There’s nothing about Meghan and Harry to be leaked from the BRF since they have zero insight into their lives. It seems as though the papers are bored with Adulterers 1 and 2, and Peggy and Duchess Do Little.

    • equality says:

      If they were doing something scripted and hiring actors, I think an outlet like TMZ would latch onto the info before the Telegraph.

  3. MaryContrary says:

    She’s just gorgeous-that’s my takeaway. Lol.

  4. Well Wisher says:

    The silence.
    From your mouth to God’s ears.
    Let the pantomime in the UK continue..

  5. Eurydice says:

    Really? Their experience as star-crossed lovers? As in doomed to end in tragedy like Romeo and Juliet?

  6. Lurker25 says:

    Meghan’s on record saying “when Harry met Sally” is her favorite romcom so I expect pretty standard, if not slightly throwback (in a good way) fare.

    What *I* really want (putting this out into the universe!) is for Meg do to something like NYMags the strategists “what I can’t live without” column. She has EXCELLENT taste and I want to know what she buys, dammit. She did some interview before Harry where she dropped what she used and I was thrilled that I was already using some (Mac “teddy” eyeliner, jergens smoothing body lotion, etc) and knew they were excellent, and now had her stamp of approval. I bet she’s fancier now but maybe not?

  7. Mary Pester says:

    Let’s not forget we have invictus in September and I think Harry might want to get “Heart of Invictus on the screen before then”,also Harry and Megan never, ever tell anyone what they are working on until THEY are ready and sure it’s going to be done properly “with no creepy clay videos). They will do what they aways do, fight for and highlight causes dear to them, and make quiet contributions to disasters without the need for public fanfare (, unlike their UK branch of family). The media are gagging for a new story on Harry and Megan, well let them gag
    Nothing to see here, until Harry and Megan say there is

  8. YOKOOHNO says:

    I hope netflix gets their act together by the time M+H’s content (whatever it is) is ready! I’ve been thinking of cancelling netflix because of their password sharing freakout – but I don’t want to miss their shows. Maybe if I do end up cancelling I’ll just re-subscribe for a month when their stuff comes out…

  9. Saucy&Sassy says:

    I agree this is all guesswork. I know Meghan said we need more RomComs, but that’s what their docuseries was in addition to the brf and bm smearing them. Who knows what they’ll do, but it suspect it will be something with purpose if that makes sense.

    I thought “starcrossed lovers” was an interesting word choice.

  10. Treefrog says:

    Surely polo season in Santa Barbara must be right around the corner, no?

    Hilarious would be their only public appearances this spring celebrating his wins on the field, sunny, happy, stress free.

  11. Concern Fae says:

    I have my fingers crossed, but the streaming bubble has burst and projects are getting canceled left and right. I think Meghan, as someone who grew up in Hollywood and seems to not have any illusions about the place, may be well placed to work in this new environment. There’s a good chance they may not see all of that production company money from their orignal contract. (A lot of that is dependent on shows actually getting made and hitting certain viewership numbers.)

    • lanne says:

      Umm…they broke records with their documentary. They have made Netflix plenty of money already. Projects get shelved for all kinds of reasons, but the Sussexes have already proven their value.

  12. Snuffles says:

    ***chants***Bring back The Tig! Bring back The Tig! Bring back The Tig! ***chants***

  13. Becks1 says:

    I’m sure they’re moving on to scripted content. We know Meghan was working on a scripted animated series, Pearl, and we know she said she would love make a rom-com. So that’s enough info for the Telegraph to make it sound like its from a Sussex insider.

    This is also just their MO. they release a project, do some promo for the project, and then go quiet until the next project is ready. So now we’re back in a Sussex quiet season until they release their next project. There may be an appearance here and there in between, but I predict not many.

    • lanne says:

      It’s a smart MO, when you see how much energy is directed at trying to make their projects fail. If they said they were doing a project to bring attention to bullying on social media, the british tabloids would spend weeks shrieking about how Meghan knows nothing about bullying, she’s never been bullied in her life, and that wanting to see her stripped and paraded through the streets with excrement thrown on her is an act of love she was too selfish to acknowledge. The noise would get ridiculous, just as it did when the gutter rags went to interview the Taliban looking for sympathy for their Harry Hate.

      They deliver projects when ready. Speculation about their projects is just that.

      • BeanieBean says:

        Exactly. Plus, I just can’t give any credence to these British newspapers that use phrases like ‘it is thought that’ or ‘it is understood that’ & so on. Do some real journalism & not publish something until you can say it with certainty!

  14. Amy Bee says:

    Who’s the friend that’s talking to the Telegraph?

    • HeatherC says:

      The intern for the TV critic who was on their way to fetch a double mocha half caff soy latte for their supervisor from all the way across town in 7 minutes or less.

    • Jais says:

      No one. They lifted this idea from an old Meghan interview. That’s how desperate they are to seem in the know. That said, at least it’s not a negative unhinged bitter Tominey piece.

  15. Maeve says:

    EGOT winners Harry and Meghan has a certain ring to it…

    • Rnot says:

      I could see all but the Tony. I think their security risks would be tough for a Broadway run even if they weren’t on stage. Who knows what the future holds though.

  16. ChewieNYC says:

    Were there any viewership numbers for their recent documentary that released New Years Eve? Live to Lead? I haven’t seen any discussion of it positive or negative? I’m surprised there hasn’t been more discussion on its success or failure to show what they can do when not focusing on their own story.

  17. Chelsea says:

    The Telegraph is just going off of the detail in the Variery exclusive from the other week where they announced new hires which mentioned they were now focusing more on scripted and Meghan’s known love of rom-coms to speculate here though tbh i can see this happening.

    And I think we might see Meghan again at the NAACP Awards to hand out the Archewell Digital Civil Rights Award they established last year but i wouldn’t expect to see her much outside of that as it’s been her MO since they moved to Montecito to disappear for months at a time until they have a project to launch or a work visit to undertake and it seems to be working well for her. Every time we get a glimpse of her like at Portia’s birthday she looks happy and relaxed.

    • Jais says:

      I’m wondering if they’ll be at the awards or just film something for the award. Would love to see them just make that a regular appearance.

  18. HennyO says:

    All these so call ‘we know this from insiders’ talking, are all knowns facts and educated guessings. let’s take a look closer:

    1.) Is understood = we’re guessing, making this this up.
    2.) Executive producers = what they are doing with all their projects. At least Harry is since the start (2021), with his & Oprah’s ‘The me you can’t see’ docuseries.
    3.) Scripted content = literally descripted in the announcement of their Netflix deal. One of the things they’re gonna produce.
    4.) Romcom = they picked this up from Meghan’s Vanity Fair cover shoot interview, where she said that she misses ‘the good old romcoms on TV. So they guess that’s what she’s gonna be producing next).

    And on and on it goes with the so called ‘sources close to’ ‘knowledge.’ It’s just the usual ‘we don’t know sh*t about what H&M are doing, but we’ll write clickbait stuff anyway.’

  19. Lizzie says:

    Hopefully Harry will play polo again this year and we’ll see both of them.

  20. GDubslady says:

    I think Harry will produce an Africa Parks series for Netflix similar to Obama’s American Parks series and narration for Netflix.

    • Scooby Gang says:

      Only with William’s permission, of course, since – you know – Africa is “William’s thing.” 🙄😉

      In all seriousness, after seeing so many CB commentors raving about H’s audio book narration, I’d love to hear him narrate a TV series.

    • notasugarhere says:

      And/or an eco-friendly travel series for Travalyst.

  21. Emily_C says:

    Bring on the cheeseball! I am so deeply sick of cynicism. Romantic stories should be the last place it’s found. And Meghan knows, first hand, that love is real and cynicism is a lie.

  22. Mei says:

    ‘they are not expected to undertake any official engagements or travel until the spring’ lmao they are really trying to keep them royal-adjacent in their heads. Is this also projection of Kate and William outside of attending the BAFTAs?