Meghan Markle Breaks Silence on Netflix 'Suits' Success and Producing Plans

Meghan Markle made a spectacular return to the red carpet in Hollywood on Thursday with a surprise appearance at the Variety Power of Women Gala in Los Angeles.

The duchess—who was no stranger to Hollywood events in her pre-royal career as an actress—has rarely walked the red carpet since splitting from the monarchy with Prince Harry in 2020 and moving to the U.S., where she re-entered the entertainment industry as a content creator and producer.

Speaking to Variety at the event on November 16, Meghan opened up for the first time about the streaming success of her Suits TV show and future plans for her Archewell Productions company.

Wearing an off-the-shoulder asymmetric Proenza Schouler cocktail dress, the duchess said she was "thrilled" to be back working in Hollywood in a brief on-camera conversation with correspondent Angelique Jackson.

A Variety Power of Women honoree in 2022, Meghan was asked why the support of women in the entertainment industry was important to her and why it was important to give it back to others.

"This industry is just so special, when you see how many women use the platform that they have and just channel it for good," she said. "And I think the more we support each other it just amplifies the work, amplifies our community, and I'm just thrilled to be back in it."

Discussing industry successes, Jackson asked Meghan her reaction to the news that according to data compiled by the Nielsen company, the show Suits has had over 45.445 billion minutes streamed in its 18th consecutive week on their streaming top 10 chart since being added to the Netflix library in the U.S.

Meghan appeared in the first seven seasons of Suits between 2011 and 2018. The duchess filmed her last scenes as paralegal Rachel Zane in 2017, before her engagement to Prince Harry was announced.

"Isn't that wild," Meghan said of the resurgence of interest in the show, which wrapped after its ninth season in 2019.

Asked why the show has become so popular, the duchess responded: "I have no idea. It was great to work on, such a great cast and crew, we had a really fun time. I was on it for seven seasons so, quite a bit."

"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."

Meghan's ability to identify good shows from bad will determine the success of her post-royal return to the Hollywood industry behind the camera.

In 2020, she and Harry launched Archewell Productions, creating scripted and non-scripted content as part of a multi-million dollar partnership with streaming giant Netflix.

Together the couple have produced three docuseries for the platform so far, though each has been met with backlash as their popularity in the U.S. and U.K. remains low.

Speaking about her upcoming projects, Meghan told Jackson that she wanted to produce "things that make people feel something."

"We have so many exciting things on the slate," she said. "I can't wait until we can announce them but I'm just really proud of what we're creating and my husband is loving it too."

Meghan and Harry's enduring path to Hollywood success has not been smooth. In addition to pushback over their docuseries including low reviews from audiences and critics, Meghan had her scripted kids show Pearl scrapped by Netflix during development in a cull of the streamers animation projects in 2022.

Earlier this year, the couple split with their audio partner Spotify after producing just one podcast series under a three-year multi-million dollar partnership. Though the streamer and Sussexes said the split was mutual, they were branded "f****** grifters" by an executive in a podcast appearance just days later.

This was followed by another knock, in the form of Meghan's "talent" being criticized by a major agency boss and the news that the couple's Harry & Meghan docuseries had missed out on an Emmy nomination.

Despite this, the couple are moving on. In addition to their work for Netflix, Meghan recently signed with major talent representatives William Morris Endeavour (WME), which an entertainment expert told Newsweek at the time would "help her rebuild her brand in the industry," and build new and lucrative brand partnerships.

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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