Duchess Meghan is busy reading a lot of scripts and weighing her next Hollywood move, even after a reported casting drop and claims her name was used for publicity.
A source close to the duchess told USA TODAY she is reading “a lot of” scripts and sifting through storylines as she explores fresh industry opportunities. Returning to acting remains a priority. No role has been chosen yet.
The same source said she is “being very careful to consider” her next step. Representatives for the duchess declined to comment. USA TODAY also reached out to Netflix.
The update arrives months after the Sussexes’ surprise return to Britain in August with their children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5. Meghan, 45, had lived in California, her home state, for the prior six years after she and Prince Harry stepped back from working royal roles in 2020.
Reports earlier tied her name to advanced talks for a third season of the Netflix crime drama “The Gentlemen,” which filmed its first two seasons in south-central England. That track did not hold.
Former Vanity Fair and New Yorker editor Tina Brown wrote in an August Substack essay that British backlash made the project “untenable to go forward,” and that Meghan was dropped from the casting. The claim fits a wider pattern already covered when Meghan Markle lost a Guy Ritchie casting amid fierce pushback at home.
On Oct. 17, Britain’s The Telegraph reported a different complaint from people close to her: that her name had been used to drive publicity for the series and boost viewership. Netflix’s response, if any, was not detailed in the coverage.
She has kept a relatively low public profile since the August move. Last week she joined Harry for the couple’s first joint engagement in Nottingham, where well-wishers hugged her, handed her flowers, and watched the pair visit charities. Warm scenes on the street do not erase the harder reception that still shadows her career plans in Britain, including the mixed signals around her UK return and charity circuit.
Meghan starred for seven seasons as Rachel Zane on the legal drama “Suits.” The final episodes aired in April 2018, weeks before her wedding to Harry. She had already begun stepping away from the screen.
Speaking to the BBC in 2017, she said she did not see the choice “as giving anything up.”
"as giving anything up"
She spoke then of hoping for “a change” and a “new chapter.” Almost a decade later, that chapter is still being shopped.
Industry chatter has never fully gone quiet. Coverage has noted that WME still lands her reality and TV bookings, even as a scripted return stays unresolved. Earlier reporting also tracked how Meghan eyed an acting return while the family prepared its British move.
The present pitch is familiar. She wants serious roles. She is reading widely. She is being careful. At the same time, her name keeps surfacing in casting rumors that either collapse under backlash or get framed, by her own circle, as a publicity tool for someone else’s show.
That tension is not abstract. A duchess who left working royal life for California now reads stacks of scripts from Britain, after a joint walkabout that produced hugs and bouquets, and after a reported drop from a Netflix drama her allies say was never a clean offer. Lifestyle optics have drawn their own scrutiny, including questions raised when Cotswolds photos undercut quiet-country-life claims.
No project has been announced. No studio has confirmed a deal. The source close to her says only that the search is active and the decision is deliberate. For a former series regular whose last “Suits” episodes aired before the royal wedding, the gap between interest and a signed role remains the whole story.
Hollywood will always take a famous name. British audiences have already shown they will not always play along. Meghan can read every script on the market; the public still gets the final cut.
