Meghan Markle’s long-awaited acting comeback has reportedly been scrapped almost as quickly as it was revealed, with a royal insider claiming furious backlash killed the deal within hours.
Despite Prince Harry insisting just last year that he couldn’t imagine bringing his family back to Britain, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are now reportedly preparing to do exactly that.
“I can’t see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the UK at this point,” Harry said during a May 2025 interview with the BBC, pointing to his long-running concerns over security in the U.K. with Meghan and their children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5. “And the things that they’re gonna miss is, well, everything.”
Yet little more than a year later, that world appears to have arrived.
Reports emerged on Aug. 19 that Harry and Meghan are preparing to return to Britain, with King Charles reportedly aware of their plans and Archie and Lilibet said to be enrolled in a U.K. school ahead of the new school year.
The dramatic reversal immediately raised the question of what had changed – and just days later, a possible answer emerged.
Meghan, 45, was reportedly in talks to join season three of Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series The Gentlemen, potentially giving the former Suits star her first major acting role since walking away from the profession nearly nine years ago.
And suddenly, that return to Britain made considerably more sense.
The Gentlemen is set and filmed in the U.K., while The Hollywood Reporter (THR) reported that Ritchie knows Meghan through mutual acquaintances.
People clarified that discussions were in “very early stages,” while THR said Meghan’s potential character “is currently being written, so it’s unclear how many episodes she would appear in.”
Season 3 announced
On Aug. 24, before season 2 even premieres on Sept. 3, Netflix officially renewed Ritchie’s crime-comedy for a third season, with Variety reporting that the next installment is already in pre-production while scripts are finalized.
And if Meghan does join the cast, there is already a rather awkward coincidence waiting for her.
Theo James plays a duke who previously served in the Army, while the first season was promoted with the slogan “Every heir needs a spare” – parallels that are difficult to miss given Harry and his relationship with Prince William.
But any amusement over the royal similarities was quickly drowned out by a considerably less welcoming reaction to Meghan’s potential return.
‘What was Guy Ritchie thinking?’
As news of the potential casting spread, critics quickly took to social media, with some threatening to boycott any project featuring the Duchess, who along with Harry have produced a string of projects with the streaming giant in 2020 after leaving royal life.
“Wouldn’t want to watch her in anything, she has no acting skills at all,” one person wrote, while a second shared, “I looooove that show, but sorry, I’d have to stop watching.”
Another added, “Nothing can rehabilitate that woman in Britain. She made the Queen’s final years hell and insulted our country. She could fall out with her own shadow. What was Guy Ritchie thinking?”
The Sun even had a poll on X, asking online users, “Would Meghan casting put you off watching new series of The Gentlemen?”
Meghan’s offer ‘withdrawn’
And according to former Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Tina Brown, that backlash wasn’t merely noise on social media – it may have killed Meghan’s comeback almost immediately.
Brown, author of “The Diana Chronicles,” claimed on Aug. 22 that Meghan’s potential casting had already been pulled.
“I learned this morning that the casting of Meghan Markle in season 3 of Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series The Gentlemen has been withdrawn. The backlash in the UK was so intense, it became untenable to go forward,” wrote Brown, the former editor of Vanity Fair.
But then came another twist.
The Sun subsequently cited an unnamed insider who claimed Meghan was still in talks with Ritchie and his team, although no formal agreement had been reached.
“Her return to acting is expected to draw a large audience of both her supporters and critics and is likely to make a lot of money. It will be seen as a major coup for whoever signs her,” the source said in the Aug. 23 article.
Now let’s circle back to the question: “Would Meghan casting put you off watching new series of The Gentlemen?” Please let us know your thoughts and then share this story so we can hear from others!