Markle ‘moved on’ from royal family drama, author claims
Princess Diana biographer Andrew Morton, author of "The Queen: Her Story," weighs in on the future for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
The recent resurgence in popularity of "Suits," the USA Network drama that ran from 2011 to 2019 and starred Meghan Markle in her most famous role before becoming royalty, has prompted reports of a new "Suits" show.
Entertainment Weekly confirmed that series creator Aaron Korsh is developing a new project with NBCUniversal, the production company behind the show’s original run.
Deadline reported that the show isn’t a spin-off or reboot but rather something set within the world of "Suits." Fox News Digital reached out to Korsh but did not immediately hear back.
Meghan Markle's series "Suits," which aired from 2011 to 2019, saw such a surge in popularity on streaming that it is reportedly sparking talks of a new project. (Ian Watson / USA Network / NBCU Photo Bank / NBCUniversal via Getty Images / File)
Earlier this month, the workplace legal drama broke the record for most weeks as the No. 1 overall title on the Nielsen rankings, according to The Hollywood Reporter, with 2.36 billion minutes of viewing for the week of September 4-10.
"Suits" focused primarily on litigator Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) who hires Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams), a man expelled from his university with impressive photographic memory skills, to work at his law firm despite not having a legal degree.
Markle played paralegal Rachel Zane, who works her way up to an associate at the firm before marrying the Mike Ross character and leaving at the end of the show’s seventh season.
The sudden popularity of "Suits" seemed to come out of nowhere, but British royal family expert Kinsey Schofield, host of the "To Di for Daily" podcast, notes there was a push to get Markle front and center.
"Suits" starred Patrick J. Adams as Mike Ross, Sarah Rafferty as Donna Paulsen, Gabriel Macht as Harvey Specter, Rick Hoffman as Louis Litt and Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane, all employees of a law firm. (Getty Images / File)
"Netflix's algorithm gave ‘Suits’ an incredible push, not to mention the sexy thumbnails they chose to display," Schofield told Fox News Digital. "For weeks if not months, ‘Suits’ was featured under Netflix’s Spotlight section."
Schofield noted the show has 134 episodes, making it a perfect binge.
"I’ve also heard the content described as ‘comforting’ or ‘traditional,’ which could explain why people commit to seeing the entire series through," she added.
Brian Balthazar, a pop culture expert, thinks the current situation with the Hollywood strikes also contributed to the show’s appeal for viewers.
Experts attribute some of the show's sudden popularity to the "royal factor" of Meghan Markle's role on the show. (Ian Watson / USA Network / NBCU Photo Bank / NBCUniversal via Getty Images / File)
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"The writers and actors strikes put streamers in a position where they needed to rethink what they put on their landing pages. And so, what's old is new, and as the saying goes, 'If you haven't seen it, it's new to you.' It's not surprising that ‘Suits’ would make the cut. It's a good show, and the 'royal' factor doesn't hurt either," he told Fox News Digital.
Markle’s presence on the show also fed people’s "morbid curiosity" about the actress-turned-royal family member, as Schofield put it. "Everyone is glued to the royal rebel storyline," she added.
Balthazar agrees, saying, "While Megan isn't exactly lacking in exposure, it's probably enough of a novelty for some people to check out where her popularity began."
He continued, "That being said, it's going to take more than that passing novelty to keep 'Suits' at the top of the most-watched list. Ultimately, it has to be a good series to stay on the charts, so it's the quality that keeps it trending."
Experts note that the overall quality of "Suits" is helping it remain popular – in addition to the curiosity about where Markle's "popularity began." (Steve Wilkie / Nigel Parry / USA Network / NBCU Photo Bank / NBCUniversal via Getty Images / File)
Markle began dating Prince Harry in 2016, while she was still starring on the show, and she later left the series in April 2018, about six months after their engagement.
Prince Harry wrote in his memoir, "Spare," that he made "the mistake of Googling and watching some of her love scenes online" when he first began dating Markle.
"I’d witnessed her and a castmate mauling each other in some sort of office or conference room," Harry wrote, according to Page Six.
"I didn’t need to see such things live," he added and joked that he needed "electric shock therapy" to stop thinking about the steamy scenes.
In his tell-all memoir, Prince Harry said he made "the mistake of Googling and watching some of her love scenes online" when he first began dating Markle. (Getty Images / File)
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According to Harry, Prince William and Kate Middleton were "regular – nay, religious – viewers of ‘Suits,'" prompting him to wonder if they’d hound him with requests for an autograph rather than any questions about him dating the star.
There were also reports that Prince Harry had shown Queen Elizabeth II and husband Prince Philip clips of Markle on the show, per the Daily Express in the U.K.
Markle’s time in Hollywood briefly crossed over with her life as an impending royal, and according to series creator Korsh, royal protocol for the future duchess began to creep into her work on the show.
"Suits" creator Aaron Korsh said the royal family intervened and stopped Markle from saying the word "poppycock" on an episode of the show. (Getty Images / File)
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"[The royal family] weighed in on some stuff. Not many things, by the way, but a few things that we wanted to do and couldn’t do, and it was a little irritating," Korsh told The Hollywood Reporter in August. "I remember one was a particular line of dialogue."
He intended for Markle to use the word "poppycock" in a scene, which was not approved.
"So, in the episode, Mike [Patrick J. Adams] and Rachel [Markle] were going to have a thing, and as a nod to my in-laws, we were going to have her say, ‘My family would say poppycock.’ And the royal family did not want her saying the word. They didn’t want to put the word ‘poppycock’ in her mouth," Korsh explained.
"I presume because they didn’t want people cutting things together of her saying "c--k." So, we had to change it to "bulls--t" instead of "poppycock," and I did not like it because I’d told my in-laws that [poppycock] was going to be in the show. There was maybe one or two more things, but I can’t remember."
Korsh, left, said he understood the royal family's decision as they were worried about unfortunate edits of the future Duchess of Sussex saying an inappropriate word. (Rick Kern / USA Network / NBCU Photo Bank / NBCUniversal via Getty Images / File)
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Korsh also said he wasn’t aware how the royal family got the scripts, saying, "I don’t know how they got them. I was aware that they were reading them because I got the feedback, but I don’t remember the process by which they got them."
He added that he only spoke on the matter of royal family influence on the show because he believed Prince Harry had discussed it in his memoir.
Prince Harry did address Markle having to ultimately leave the show, writing, "Meg packed up her house, gave up her role in ‘Suits.' After seven seasons. A difficult moment for her because she loved that show, loved the character she was playing, loved her cast and crew – loved Canada."
"On the other hand, life there had become untenable, especially on-set. The show writers were frustrated because they were often advised by the palace comms team to change lines of dialogue, what her character would do, how she would act."
Prince Harry wrote in his memoir that the writers on "Suits" were "often advised by the palace comms team to change lines of dialogue, what her character would do, how she would act." (Oli Scarff / AFP via Getty Images / File)
The couple married on May 19, 2018, shortly after Markle’s final appearance in the series aired on April 25.
In 2020, Prince Harry and Markle stepped away from their duties as senior royals and moved to California, where they had their two children, Archie, 4, and Lilibet, 2.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were married in 2018, shortly after her last episode of "Suits" aired. (Ben Stansall / AFP / Getty Images / File)
With the possibility of "Suits" seeing new life on television or streaming, the question of Markle making an appearance has come up, particularly as the 42-year-old signed with talent agency WME in April.
A former executive producer for the show, Gene Klein, told TVLine in August that he didn’t think a reunion was likely.
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"I would assume that's just not possible," he told the outlet.
"I’d be surprised if we could thread that needle for a reunion, but I’d also be delighted if that happened because [when] you do a show for that long, everybody becomes such a good friend," he added.
The cast of "Suits," with Markle, center, are shown at a screening in 2013. A former executive producer said he assumes it's "just not possible" to get a cast reunion together. (Justin Lubin / USA Network / NBCU Photo Bank / NBCUniversal via Getty Images / File)
Schofield noted, "The original cast members are not expected to blatantly star in a reboot, but I would be surprised if you didn’t see them sprinkled throughout as guest stars."
She added, "They would be crazy not to try to lure Meghan back with a guest appearance. That’s the type of PR you just can’t buy right now."
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Balthazar speculated Markle would be interested in more than a cameo.
"I have to imagine she would want her return to acting to be in a more prominent, creatively challenging role, but money talks," he said.
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