Is This the End of Harry and Meghan’s US Dream?

Published: 22 August 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online

Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, are preparing for a significant new chapter as they increasingly reconnect with the United Kingdom, raising questions over whether their ambitious American media venture has reached a turning point.

The couple moved to California in 2020 after stepping back from their roles as senior members of the British royal family. Their departure was followed by a series of major commercial agreements that appeared to establish them as powerful new figures in the American entertainment industry. Among the most significant was a reported $100m partnership with Netflix, while a separate podcast agreement with Spotify was reported to be worth around $20m.

At the time, the deals reflected the extraordinary global interest surrounding the couple. Streaming companies and podcast platforms were competing aggressively for high-profile personalities capable of attracting audiences and subscribers. Harry and Meghan appeared to be ideally positioned to benefit from that environment.

Six years later, however, their media position looks considerably different. Their Netflix relationship has been reduced to a first-look arrangement, their Spotify partnership ended in 2023, and several projects have failed to achieve the level of attention generated by their earliest releases.

The changing fortunes of their media operation illustrate a broader transformation in the entertainment industry. Fame can still attract enormous initial attention, but it no longer guarantees sustained audiences. Streaming platforms now compete in an environment where viewers have an almost limitless supply of content, while social media has created millions of potential creators competing for the same audience.

The Sussexes’ strongest media success remains closely connected to their relationship with the royal family. Their 2022 Netflix documentary series Harry & Meghan became one of the platform’s biggest documentary launches, demonstrating the extraordinary level of public interest in their experiences and their departure from royal life.

Other projects have struggled to replicate that performance. Their Live to Lead interview series, Harry’s Polo documentary and Meghan’s lifestyle programme With Love, Meghan expanded their media portfolio, but none generated the same global impact as the documentary focused directly on their royal experience.

The Polo documentary, in particular, failed to enter Netflix’s top 10 lists in numerous markets. The second season of With Love, Meghan also experienced a significant decline in viewing figures. A planned animated children’s project, Pearl, was cancelled.

Netflix also ended its partnership with Meghan’s lifestyle company As Ever after seven months. The company maintained that the transfer of full control to Meghan had always been part of the plan, while the broader relationship between Netflix and the Sussexes continued through the reduced first-look agreement.

The Spotify chapter was even shorter. The company and the couple ended their multimillion-dollar partnership by mutual consent in 2023 after Meghan’s Archetypes podcast produced a single 12-episode series. The programme featured prominent guests, including former tennis champion Serena Williams and singer Mariah Carey.

Meghan later attempted another podcast venture with Lemonada Media. Confessions of a Female Founder launched in 2025 but ended after nine episodes, with Meghan saying she wanted to concentrate on As Ever rather than immediately continue with another series.

The difficulties have generated criticism as well as industry analysis. Some of the strongest criticism came after the Spotify relationship ended, while more measured observers have focused on the structural problems facing celebrity-driven media projects.

Industry analysts argue that the Sussexes entered the American entertainment market at a moment when major companies were willing to spend heavily on famous personalities. That business model has since changed. Streaming companies have become more cautious about expensive celebrity deals, while the creator economy has transformed the way audiences discover and consume content.

Social media consultant Matt Navarra has argued that the central challenge for Harry and Meghan is not generating attention. Their names can still produce enormous curiosity almost instantly. The difficulty is converting that attention into a repeatable media proposition that encourages audiences to return for projects unrelated to royal controversy.

That distinction may prove critical to the couple’s future. Their first major Netflix documentary succeeded because it offered audiences unprecedented access to one of the world’s most famous families and addressed one of the most closely watched royal controversies of the modern era. Producing equally compelling projects without relying on royal revelations has proved far more difficult.

Former US media executive Evan Shapiro has similarly argued that the entertainment industry has moved away from the traditional model in which a small number of major companies controlled what audiences watched. Today, celebrities compete not only with other celebrities but also with creators, influencers and independent producers around the world.

The experience of the Sussexes is not unique. Former US president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama have also seen their Netflix partnership evolve, with their production company Higher Ground moving to a first-look arrangement in 2024. Their Spotify agreement ended in 2022.

The comparison highlights how the wider entertainment industry has changed. Even globally recognised public figures are being required to demonstrate that they can consistently produce commercially successful content rather than simply attract attention through their names.

For Meghan, a possible return to acting could therefore represent a strategic shift. She stepped away from acting after marrying Harry, having previously gained international recognition for playing Rachel Zane in the television drama Suits.

Recent reports suggest that she may be considering a return to scripted entertainment. Her appearance as a celebrity judge on MasterChef Australia reportedly helped renew her interest in performing. Industry reports have subsequently suggested that she has been discussing a possible role in the third season of Netflix’s The Gentlemen, although details of any agreement remain uncertain.

Such a move would mark a notable change in Meghan’s post-royal career. Rather than relying exclusively on projects developed around her own public identity, acting would allow her to participate in established productions with existing audiences, creative teams and distribution structures.

The couple’s return to the UK does not necessarily mean abandoning their American media ambitions. Archewell Productions continues to develop projects, including a polo drama and an adaptation of the romantic novel Meet Me at the Lake. Other projects are also reportedly being developed outside the Netflix partnership.

Britain remains an important production centre, making a UK base compatible with international entertainment ambitions. Major streaming companies regularly produce programmes in Britain for global audiences, meaning Harry and Meghan do not necessarily need to remain in California to maintain their position in the international media industry.

For Harry, the Invictus Games remain a major focus. The event is scheduled to come to Birmingham next year, providing him with an established platform separate from commercial entertainment. His memoir Spare also demonstrated that his personal story can generate enormous commercial interest, although reproducing that level of success with another project would be difficult.

Meghan, meanwhile, has indicated that a return to business podcasting could depend on the future development of As Ever. She previously said she would like to revive Confessions of a Female Founder at a different stage of her journey as an entrepreneur.

The Sussexes’ experience therefore appears less like the complete collapse of their American dream and more like a significant adjustment to their original ambitions. They entered Hollywood with enormous global recognition, powerful industry connections and contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Yet the media environment they entered has changed dramatically.

Their continuing challenge is to demonstrate that the attention surrounding Harry and Meghan can be transformed into durable audiences for a broader range of projects. Their royal history remains an extraordinarily powerful source of public fascination, but the next stage of their careers will depend increasingly on what they can create beyond that story.

As they reconnect with Britain while maintaining international production ambitions, the Sussexes face a more competitive entertainment landscape than the one that greeted them in 2020. Their future success may depend less on the size of their celebrity and more on whether they can consistently produce work that audiences choose to watch, listen to and return to.