Suits: Will Meghan Markle Ever Return To Acting Since Leaving The Royal Family?
Even though it concluded in 2019, "Suits" is more popular than it has ever been. The legal drama hit Netflix this past summer and quickly broke several Nielsen records, becoming Netflix's best-performing acquired series in a single week and tallying almost 18 billion minutes of viewing in the month of July.
The show's surge in popularity certainly has fans new and old reflecting on the career of now-retired actress Meghan Markle, also known as the Duchess of Sussex. Before securing the role of go-getter paralegal Rachel Zane on "Suits," Markle appeared in a number of television shows, including "90210," multiple iterations of "CSI," and "Fringe." Her longest-running role, however, was Zane, whom she played for seven seasons until her departure from "Suits" in 2017, not long before her marriage to Prince Harry in 2018. The pair left the royal family in 2020 and moved stateside.
Despite her and Harry stepping down as working royals, Markle has no plans to return to her former career as an actress. "I'm done," she told Variety in 2022. "I guess never say never, but my intention is to absolutely not." In April 2023, Markle signed with the powerhouse agency William Morris Endeavor (WME), but Variety quashed any fans' hopes of the duchess returning to acting, confirming that "acting will not be an area of focus."
Markle's Hollywood endeavors will happen behind the camera
Since marrying into the royal family, Meghan Markle has turned her attention toward media ventures and women's advocacy. Her new team at WME certainly has the chops to take on such a public-facing client. Brad Slater also represents Dwayne Johnson, and Jill Smoller is Serena Williams' longtime agent.
In 2020, the royal couple launched Archewell Inc., their content creation imprint, and that same year, they signed a five-year, $100-million deal with Netflix to produce scripted series, feature films, and documentaries. Titles thus far include "Harry & Meghan," Netflix's biggest documentary debut to date; "Live to Lead"; and most recently, "Heart of Invictus," which follows six athletes from the 2020 Invictus Games.
"People love love," Markle said in her Variety interview. "... And our definition of love is really expansive: Partner love, self-love, the love of community and family. We use that as the baseline of the kind of shows and documentaries we want out there." That includes docuseries like "Heart of Invictus," she said, but could expand into more traditional territory. "For scripted, we want to think about how we can evolve from that same space and do something fun! It doesn't always have to be so serious. Like a good rom-com," she explained.
If Markle decided to star in one of those rom-coms herself, she could make a killing. Film score composer and actress Nicole Russin-McFarland told The Mirror, "Could she get $1 to 2 million? Easily with her fame." For now, Markle is content with pulling the strings.