Meghan Markle’s animated Netflix series Pearl quietly dumped by streaming giant in blow to Sussexes’ £112m deal
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 streaming giant's first animated series.
But it was binned as part of cutbacks amid a collapse in subscribers, reported.
Hollywood sources confirmed to The Sun that the series had been canned.
Meghan worked as executive producer on the show alongside Elton John's husband David Furnish.
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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."
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The series was intended to be a family show to inspire young girls, Meghan said.
Along with Pearl, Netflix also scrapped Dino Daycare and Boons and Curses last week, kids' series that were in production.
Insiders said that Archewell Productions and Netflix continue to work on other projects together.
The Sussexes signed a £112 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.
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They said how company's first show would be a docuseries about Harry's beloved Invictus Games, of which he is patron of the Invictus Games Foundation.
Heart of Invictus documented the lives of competitors as they trained for the 2022 games.
A camera crew were spotted filming the California-based pair at the Invictus Games in the Netherlands last month.
Speaking of the docuseries last year, Prince Harry said: "This series will give communities around the world a window into the moving and uplifting stories of these competitors on their path to the Netherlands next year."
Meghan and Harry also inked a deal to produce and host podcasts with music streaming service Spotify worth a reported £18 million in December 2020.
So far the couple have only released one podcast as part of that contract.
A holiday special in December 2020 featured their son Archie and stars including Sir Elton John and James Corden.
The episode was 35 minutes long.
But in January the pair came under intense pressure to ditch their mega-deal with the company after it was accused of hosting anti-jab content by US comedian Joe Rogan.
Amid the furore, the pair said: "We have continued to express our concerns to Spotify to ensure changes to its platform are made to help address this public health crisis.
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"We look to Spotify to meet this moment and are committed to continuing our work together as it does."
A spokeswoman for Archewell Audio confirmed in March that Meghan’s debut podcast for Spotify is due to premiere this summer.
