Meghan Markle’s animated series Pearl axed amid Netflix cancellation spree

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are still yet to produce a single show from their Netflix deal, with their latest offering dropped amid mass cancellations.

Meghan Markle has had her upcoming animated series Pearl quietly dumped by Netflix.

The show, created by the Duchess of Sussex through Archewell Productions, was in the development stage.

Pearl – which followed the story of a 12-year-old girl exploring famous women in history – was set to be the production company’s first animated series.

But it has been binned as part of cutbacks amid a collapse in subscribers to the streaming service, Deadline reported.

Hollywood sources confirmed to The Sun that the series had been canned.

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Meghan’s series was axed in development stage, it has been confirmed. Picture: AFP.

Despite penning their Netflix deal last year, The Sussexes are yet to producer anything for the streaming service. Picture: AFP.

Meghan worked as executive producer on the show alongside husband Prince Harry and Elton John’s other half, David Furnish.

Announcing the launch last summer, Meghan said: “Like many girls her age, our heroine Pearl is on a journey of self-discovery as she tries to overcome life’s daily challenges.

“I’m thrilled that Archewell Productions, partnered with the powerhouse platform of Netflix and these incredible producers, will together bring you this new animated series, which celebrates extraordinary women throughout history.

“David Furnish and I have been eager to bring this special series to light, and I am delighted we are able to announce it today.”

David Furnish added: “Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex and I are deeply passionate about bringing the inspirational and positive stories of extraordinary women from around the world to a global audience of all ages.”

The series was set to become the Archewell Productions’ first animated series. Picture: AFP.

The series was intended to be a family series to inspire young girls, Meghan said.

Insiders said that Archewell Productions and Netflix continue to work on other projects together.

Along with Pearl, Netflix scrapped two other kids shows in production, Dino Daycare and Boons and Curses.

It comes as a number of Netflix shows have been axed after the streamer lost tens of billions of dollars in the wake of a shock subscriber loss.

The Sussexes signed a $135 million deal with Netflix last year but are yet to produce anything for the streaming giant.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex said they hoped to create content that “informs but also gives hope” when they revealed the megabucks partnership in September last year.

Archewell was set up by the Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry in Autumn 2020 to create scripted series, docuseries, documentaries, features and children’s programming.

This article originally appeared in The Sun and is reproduced here with permission