Netflix’s $75 million ultimatum to Harry and Meghan

Just days after their Spotify deal crumbled, an outstanding fee from the couple’s eye-watering Netflix deal is reportedly hanging in the balance.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been instructed to deliver more must-watch shows for Netflix in order to collect the remainder of their eye-watering contract, it’s been claimed.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed a landmark deal worth a reported $150 million with the streaming giant in late 2020, but it’s understood they have only been paid half of that amount so far.

The centrepiece of the collaboration was their explosive six-part series, Harry & Meghan, which proved a global hit and became the streaming giant’s most-viewed documentary.

Harry & Meghan proved a massive ratings hit. Picture: Netflix

The only other content produced by their company, Archewell, was a docu-series called Live To Lead about global leaders and activists, and Harry’s Invictus Games documentary, Heart of Invictus, which will be released later this year.

While Netflix is said to have been happy with the Harry & Meghan viewing figures, according to The Sun, the couple have now been told they’ll need to produce more compelling shows in order to be paid the remainder of their contract.

The series featured previously-unseen footage from the couple’s private life. Picture: Netflix

Meghan’s animated series about women in history, Pearl, was axed last year before it could even get off the ground, while a new report in The Wall Street Journal over the weekend detailed several other pitches that were rejected.

The publication claims that they had suggested an Emily In Paris-style series but with a male as the lead, and a show about LGBTQ characters similar to those in Heartstopper.

According to the WSJ, they do have at least one other series actually in production: a Great Expectations-style show called Bad Manners.

It’s understood to be a prequel to the Charles Dickens classic and retells the story of a lonely Miss Haversham living in a patriarchal society.

Their Spotify deal collapsed earlier this month. Picture: Angela Weiss/AFP

This latest development comes just days after the couple’s high-profile Spotify deal was axed and amid renewed speculation that their Netflix contract could also be in jeopardy.

A source told The Sun earlier this month that there is a “less friendly attitude” toward the Sussex deal “from some at the top” at the streaming service.

“The feeling is that the lemon has been fully squeezed. The big bucks Harry and Meghan signed in for do not exist today,” the insider said.

However, while the Spotify deal collapse has been mired in reported leaks from within the company, with insiders branding the Sussexes “lazy” and an executive publicly calling them “f**king grifters”, there’ll be no such ugly split from Netflix.

The Sun quoted an industry source as insisting that “there’s no question of a headline-grabbing, public parting” between the company and the couple.

“Netflix was pleased to sign Harry and Meghan and is looking for some great ideas going forward,” the insider told the publication.

“But the remainder of the deal relies on them producing those good ideas. The deal’s continually under review which is normal for ones of this magnitude.”

Originally published as Netflix’s $75 million ultimatum to Harry and Meghan