Meghan Markle has her own theory about why ‘Suits’ is enjoying a strange new respect
Meghan Markle is back in Hollywood, but not as an actor.
The Duchess of Sussex, who starred as Rachel Zane in the legal drama “Suits” from 2011 to 2018, told Variety at its Power of Women event Thursday that she had “no idea” why the show was trending again. But she did venture a guess.
“It’s hard to find a show you can binge-watch that many episodes of these days, so that could have something to do with it, but good shows are everlasting,” Markle said. More than four years after its series finale aired in September 2019, “Suits” has amassed 45 billion minutes streamed on Netflix and Peacock combined, as of Nielsen’s latest weekly streaming report.
It’s this kind of show, one that makes people “feel something, feel a sense of community,” that Markle is hoping to champion via Archewell Productions, the company she co-founded with husband Prince Harry.
The highly entertaining legal drama, which co-stars Meghan Markle, went off the air years ago. But it’s ba-ack!
The company, which has an overall deal with Netflix — one of the streaming homes for “Suits” — has debuted three projects thus far: documentary “Heart of Invictus,” docuseries “Live to Lead” and the autobiographical project “Harry & Meghan.”
And Markle teased more on the red carpet Thursday.
“We have so many exciting things on the slate — I can’t wait until we can announce them,” she said, adding that she’s “just really proud of what we’re creating, and my husband is loving it too.”
Originally selected as a 2022 Power of Women honoree, Markle skipped last year’s ceremony out of respect for Queen Elizabeth II, who died last September at 96. Markle’s Variety cover publication, originally set for late September that year, was delayed to Oct. 19, 2022.
Upon news of Queen Elizabeth II’s decline and subsequent death, critics online debated Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan’s relationship with the queen.
In the interview for her postponed cover story, she hinted at the tone of the content Archewell Productions planned to put out in the future.
“So much of how my husband and I see things is through our love story,” she said. “I think that’s what people around the world connected to, especially with our wedding. People love love. I’m not excluded in that sentiment. 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.”
The biggest entertainment stories
Get our big stories about Hollywood, film, television, music, arts, culture and more right in your inbox as soon as they publish.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
