Netflix 'quietly cancels' series created by Duchess of Sussex

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Netflix has “quietly cancelled” a series created by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

The 40-year-old royal – who has been married to Prince Harry since 2018 and has Archie, two, and Lili, ten months, with him – had been set to produce animated series ‘Pearl’ for the streaming giant, but production has reportedly been “quietly cancelled”, according to Deadline.

The former ‘Suits’ actress – who, along with her husband, abandoned royal duties for a life in Los Angeles back in 2020 – created the series through the couple’s Archewell Productions company and had described it as a family series that centres on the adventures of a 12-year-old girl who finds inspiration in a variety of influential women throughout history.

At the time, she said: “Like many girls her age, our heroine Pearl is on a journey of self-discovery as she tries to overcome life’s daily challenges. I’m thrilled that Archewell Productions, partnered with the powerhouse platform of Netflix and these incredible producers, will together bring you this new animated series, which celebrates extraordinary women throughout history. [Co-producer] David Furnish and I have been eager to bring this special series to light, and I am delighted we are able to announce it today.”

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The couple had initially signed a production deal – thought to be in excess of $100m – with Netflix back in 2020 but are yet to produce any content for the streaming platform.

News of the series’ cancellation comes just days after Netflix announced it had suffered a loss of 200,000 subscribers in a trading update released in mid-April and were looking at the idea of including adverts following the dip.

In a statement, Netflix boss William Ackman said: “While Netflix’s business is fundamentally simple to understand, in light of recent events, we have lost confidence in our ability to predict the company’s future prospects with a sufficient degree of certainty.”