Duchess of Sussex’s acting comeback was reportedly derailed after she stepped away from the industry in 2017
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Meghan Markle may not be appearing in the third season of Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen after all.
This week, reports that the Duchess of Sussex, 45, was considering a return to acting in the Netflix series sparked waves of backlash in the U.K.
Now, former Vanity Fair and New York Magazine editor-in-chief Tina Brown claims the decision to cast Meghan in the drama has been reversed.
“I learned this morning that the casting of Meghan Markle in season 3 of Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series The Gentlemen has been withdrawn,” Brown — who is the author of two books about the Royal Family — wrote on her Substack Saturday.
“The backlash in the UK was so intense, it became untenable to go forward,” she added.
The Independent has reached out to Netflix, Meghan and Ritchie for comment.
According to Variety, Meghan was in discussions to join the third installment of the series, starring Theo James and Kaya Scodelario, which films in the U.K.
The show is a spin-off of Guy Ritchie’s popular 2019 crime comedy movie of the same name, which starred Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam and Colin Farrell.
The third season of the show has not been officially greenlit. Season two premieres September 3.
The duke and duchess revealed earlier this month that they would be moving from California back to the U.K. with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, who are both enrolled in British schools, six years after they came to the U.S.
Brown reported that the upcoming move across the pond was partly inspired by Meghan’s potential gig in The Gentlemen.
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It would have been her first acting role since she quit performing in 2017, when she got engaged to Prince Harry.
