For years now, the British media has been obsessed with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Netflix contract. They’ve actively tried to convince Netflix to dump the Sussexes, they’ve screamed and cried about every single one of the Sussexes’ Netflix projects, and they’ve openly wished for the Sussexes to lose all of their Netflix money so that Harry would (finally!) divorce Meghan and come back to the UK. What makes the British media’s years-long campaign even sadder is that Netflix has always sort of shrugged and said “we support the Sussexes, their projects are great.” It’s happened again – a Netflix executive has gone on the record about how Netflix is happy to work with the Sussexes.
Netflix bosses have vowed to stand by the Sussexes despite disappointing ratings and dire reviews for Prince Harry’s polo documentary. Amid growing rumours the streamer wants to part ways with the couple, Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria insisted that the streamer remains ‘excited’ at the prospect of future projects with Harry and Meghan.
Prince Harry’s five-part documentary POLO was deemed a flop with critics deeming it ‘boring’. The couple failed to do any high profile promotion for the project sparking claims that there were problems with their £80m streaming deal with Netflix.
However, Ms Bajaria stood firm that the streaming giant remains committed to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s future, and insisted that Ms Markle’s new lifestyle cooking series With Love Meghan will be a hit.
Asked where Netflix ‘stand with that deal’ Ms Bajaria told the Mail: ‘We have Meghan’s new show coming out, which is great. It is such a great take on a lifestyle show and showcase for California, Montecito and nature. It really has great takeaways. I was like “oh my God, I want to really do that pasta.” There’s really easy great takeaways on life. I am really excited about that coming out.’
It is the first time a senior Netflix executive has gone on the record to confirm that The Sussexes will move forward with projects.
Ms Bajaria added that Meghan is working on a screen adaptation of the bestselling romance novel Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune. However as yet it remains in ‘development’ and has not been greenlit for production. Asked whether the movie is ‘definitely coming out’, she insisted: ‘It is in development. It is a great book, she had it and we are happy to do it. And we have things in development. Everyone is excited about what is coming. I am really excited for her show.’
The media executive spoke at the 2025 Next on Netflix Preview Event in Los Angeles, where one of the streamer’s top comics took a swipe at The Sussexes’ performances during the high profile presentation. Comic John Mulaney made a savage dig at them for having ‘no specific plan’ when they landed a content deal with American powerhouse Netflix.
It’s equal parts sad and hilarious that the Mail has spent all of this time and energy screaming and crying about “the Netflix contract,” only to be met with yet another Netflix executive saying “oh, we’re so excited by Harry and Meghan’s upcoming projects!” I still hope that Meghan really promotes the cooking show, because (don’t hate me) I still think Prince Harry left himself open to legitimate criticism by doing absolutely zero promotion for the Polo series. It’s not that damn difficult to give a couple of statements or interviews in support of your latest project, and by doing zero promotion, that becomes the story rather than the project itself.
Photos courtesy of Netflix.
Were I Netflix and looking to re-up a contract with them, I would write in a requirement for promotion of all projects into that contract. It wouldn’t have been hard for Harry to go on a couple of friendly media interviews and just say up front that he wouldn’t be speaking about his family.
I would have loved for him to go back on Stephen Colbert again and bring Nacho with him.
Nacho the Trump/ Musk fanboy? No thanks.
Wait, Nacho is a Tr*mp/EM supporter????
Same. The lack of promotion was mind-boggling. It certainly gave an impression that Harry wanted to disassociate himself from the project for whatever reason.
Polo wasn’t boring. That being said what is meant by “disappointing ratings?” Netflix doesn’t release numbers.
Anything but, I really enjoyed it.
He and Nacho could have just done some social media promotion that would then have been reported elsewhere even if he didn’t want to do any interviews. I really don’y get his radio silence around it.
I liked Polo more than I thought I would. I thought it got a little too soapy/RHONY or whatever at some points – especially the whole thing about the baby shower (that was when my husband stopped watching lol) but then it sort of course corrected and got back to polo. I really loved how it emphasized the relationships – between fathers and sons, mothers and sons, and then the teammates themselves. By the end you really did get that it was a small tightknit community.
I really liked the Polo docuseries and have watched it a couple of times. I was hoping for a follow up season, so I have no idea who these critics are or where these people get this information. As for promoting the series, 99% of the stuff I watched on Netflix I’ve never seen any promotion for. I rarely see promotions for anything released through streaming services, but maybe I’m just out of that particular loop.
When are Harry and Meghan going to become irrelevant? Didn’t British press say that they were? I truly believe the focus for the production company going forward is going to be Meghan’s cooking show and podcast.
The Fail didn’t seem content with Ted Sarandos and his wife Nicole Avant having the Sussexes’ back. Publicly. Repeatedly.
No, they had to go the proper *named source* route.
If only they did this kind of checking before publishing all kinds of unfunded bullying claims.
Or did that kind of checking when the Left-Behinds put out a story that sounds too good to be true, like their FewchaKween being miraculously healed from whatever was ailing her, without any part of that storyline actually sounding remotely true.
They are also pretending that they’ve got named sources by claiming that Ms. Bajaria “told the Mail” when the actual truth is buried towards the end:
“The media executive spoke at the 2025 Next on Netflix Preview Event in Los Angeles…”
So she was speaking at the PREVIEW event and previewed some of the Sussexes’ upcoming projects, which led to the Mail pretending that she was speaking exclusively to them. Now I don’t doubt that UK reporters and US rags have been descending on these events to get their Sussex-related questions in, but the way they obfuscate… my god.
Looking forward to what is upcoming from the Sussexes and will binge watch whatever they produce.
If that was a joke from their top comic then his show is in real danger
March 4th is getting closer. Im excited. It’s gonna be so cute.
Me too. Desperately need something light and fun and aspirational to distract from the news!
My wish for the Netflix genie:
A DRAMATISATION of Spare!!
Can you imagine the reaction!
Multiple seasons.. now that I would 💕 love!
Count the number of times the Fail article uses the word insisted which is such a despicable way to make it sound like the Netflix executive was uncertain or overcompensating – which I’m sure she wasn’t. I don’t even like lifestyle shows but I’m going to check this one out.
It’s actually interesting, right – a good example of how certain terminology or phrasing changes the intent. They’re making it sound like she was sort of desperate and overcompensating like you said, and the reality is I am sure she was anything but.
IKR!?! Not to mention these nebulous “critics” who everyone knows are plucked from murdoch’s wrinkled nether regions.
Great, I did NOT need that image of Futsu squash, thankyouverymuch. Diseased dried apricots…
I am so excited for the show and think Meet me at the Lake is a great option for them to start dabbling in film production. I think it’s clear that Harry’s interests lie more in their philanthropic projects and in the foundation, so I wonder if Netlix might perhaps sign again but only with Meghan?
I think it’s great that Netflix came out and has the Sussexes back. I found the Polo documentary not boring at all. I was hoping for another season of Polo.
Nothing like hearing from the horse’s mouth .Netflix is saying that the Sussexes are doing great but DM just won’t shut up.
The metrics for Netflix is NOT based on promoting projects they own. If they buy a distribution for a movie, then they promote it because it has a finite run on the channel. The Sussex content remains in their library for subscriber to access for years. They do not need a huge initial viewership on Sussex content. Stop playing into the tabs false narrative.
This is so true.
@GMH
Thank you! For a minute there I thought this site had been taken over by low-intelligence trolls.
I get so confused with the bm and who owns what, so am I correct that the DM is the last lawsuit Harry has against the media in the UK? If so, they are showing some desperation.
I’m certainly excited about any and all of the Sussex’s upcoming projects!!!
Me too! 💗
I’m just going to say that playing polo for the majority of Americans is so unattainable, it’s not even a dream we dream.🤷 So, really, THAT show bombing WASN’T a real surprise. I had zero interest, even though I adore Harry.
My view of polo is that it’s basically kickball but for rich people. This is based on the sum total of information I have about polo, which is that royals can jump on ponies and play it once or twice a year without putting any effort into training in between these rare polo matches.
Except it DIDN’T bomb, Netflix is happy with it, especially because they received numerous first-time subscribers from people who have never, ever, watched a polo match and came away impressed with how much they learnt.
Harry is suing the daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday and they, like the left-over royals, have a vested interest in creating a narrative that everything H+M do ends in failure, despite the very credible evidence that it is the reverse – they are successes by every conceivable metric.
The UK media is telling you to believe what THEY tell you, instead of the evidence of your own eyes and ears. And you have bought into the narrative hook, line and sinker.
Making up data about new subscribers just undermines your passionate argument.
I wanted to like it, and it was advertised as kind of a soap opera, but privileged ponces who are super competitive are not my jam. Oh well.
It’s no different to formula 1 docs. They are spoiled brats with billionaires behind them. I watch f1 for years until I couldn’t take the tantrums
Considering the Emilia Perez fiasco, I don’t think Netflix is worrying about Polo.
Lol Meghan and Harry keep rising and the crazy train from salt island keeps on rolling.