Heard about Meghan Markle’s acting comeback? There’s a big twist after the backlash

Here’s one for the rumour mill: Meghan Markle was apparently all set to make a splashy return to acting — not just in any old project, but in season 3 of Guy Ritchie’s telly spin-off, The Gentlemen. If that sounds unlikely, well, it’s about to get even stranger: word now is, Markle’s not just out — she’s been actively pulled from the show after a backlash that, by all accounts, got well out of hand.

Backlash to Markle’s involvement “was so intense, it became untenable to go forward. This does not bode well for Meghan’s acting comeback in the UK.”

That withering assessment comes from none other than Tina Brown, who runs things at Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, and clearly has no qualms spelling out just how rough things have got for the Duchess of Sussex’s prospective acting career on this side of the Atlantic.

Sudden U-turn

The twist? According to Brown, Markle’s casting for The Gentlemen was scrapped precisely because of the strength of negative reactions within the UK. To put it mildly, this is not the big telly homecoming Meghan had in mind — and it raises questions about just how viable her return to the acting world is looking, at least when British audiences are involved.

Meghan Markle’s pullout from The Gentlemen marks the sharpest reversal yet in her attempts at an acting comeback, on a production that, for a brief window, might have brought her into a Guy Ritchie crime caper alongside a high-profile cast.

Markle’s On-Screen Past (and Future)

For those keeping score, Meghan’s showbiz CV beyond her star turn in Suits is actually longer than people tend to remember. She’s got credits in films like Remember Me (with Robert Pattinson, no less) — in which she played a character called Megan back in 2010 — plus appearances in Horrible Bosses, A Lot Like Love, When Sparks Fly, and Anti-Social. TV-wise, she’s popped up in the likes of CSI: Miami, Castle, and even 90210, usually for one-off guest bits.

• The 2022 Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan gave viewers front-row seats to her life with Prince Harry, spotlighting their relationship and their not-exactly-easy departure from royal duties.
• Then she cropped up again in Netflix’s With Love, Meghan, which ran for two seasons — this time wading into reality TV territory with kitchen sessions, gardening, and banter with celebrity guests.
• Her next big swing is a film called Close Personal Friends for Amazon MGM Studios, helmed by Jason Orley and featuring a sizeable ensemble, though there’s still no official word on when that will actually reach cinemas.

The Gentlemen Season 3 dropped Markle days after the backlash began.