For a series that was technically never announced, there’s an awful lot of chatter surrounding the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s forthcoming documentary.
For those who need catching up, things kicked off when entertainment industry site Deadline reported Netflix was “rattled” by criticism of the upcoming season of “The Crown” and, as a result, the streamer had reportedly decided to push the release of the Sussexes’ show from December into next year.
The final season of “The Crown,” which drops on November 9, is now reaching the 1990s – a notoriously tumultuous decade for the family, which saw the demise of three royal marriages and public opinion of the Windsors plummet.
Critics blasted Netflix’s decision to release the new season so soon after the death of Queen Elizabeth II as insensitive. And former British Prime Minister John Major, played in the upcoming season by Dominic West, slammed rumored plot points as “damaging and malicious fiction.”
Other outlets later countered the report of the documentary’s delay. Britain’s Telegraph newspaper cited friends of the Sussexes as insisting it would still be going out in December.
Whatever the truth about the docu-series’ launch date, it does appear that Netflix was unnerved by the negative response to the latest series of “The Crown.” A source close to the streamer told CNN: “They’re running around like headless chickens.”
It’s not hard to see why. The latest series was filmed before the death of Queen Elizabeth, which changed the context considerably. “There’s this perfect storm of the Queen having died, the most contentious series of ‘The Crown’ about to go out, and a new King coming in, and realizing that this could be really damaging,” the source said.
Part of the issue, the source added, is that the latest series deals with events that are in living memory, with participants who are still alive and recall the reality. “When you have Winston Churchill having a fictional conversation with a fictional secretary, nobody cares. The moment you have people in the room – cornerstones of British society – being still alive and are able to fact-check it, then you have a problem.”
CNN reached out to Netflix but had not heard back by the time of writing this newsletter.
The whole story around the Sussexes’ docu-series has been shrouded in mystery. Everyone knows Harry and Meghan inked a multi-year production deal with Netflix a few years ago, but the series wasn’t officially announced by the service as other projects in development were.
That is, until an interview with the duchess on Wednesday confirmed the tell-all was, indeed, in the works.
Meghan acknowledged the docu-series is being helmed by filmmaker Liz Garbus, telling Variety it was “nice to be able to trust someone with our story – a seasoned director whose work I’ve long admired.”
She also said: “It’s interesting. My husband has never worked in this industry before. For me, having worked on ‘Suits,’ it’s so amazing to be around so much creative energy and to see how people work together and share their own points of view. That’s been really fun.”
However, the duchess also hinted that there are elements of the project that are out of her hands and those of her husband. “We’re trusting our story to someone else, and that means it will go through their lens,” she revealed.
It’s also worth noting that we’re still also waiting for Harry’s highly anticipated memoir – expected sometime in the fall – which could well be adding to the anxiety levels of royal household staff.
We’re unlikely to hear from the royal family or Buckingham Palace on either of the Netflix offerings. Long-standing policy has been not to comment on fictional depictions of Windsors, while recent protocol has been to avoid commenting on criticism from the Sussexes of various family members.
But the challenge for the royals is how to manage the fallout from shows such as these, especially when there is a very real possibility of it affecting international perceptions of the family. This is a new monarchy and a test for King Charles III – and there may come a point when he feels the need to address it.
WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING?
Queen’s death was a ‘complicated time,’ Meghan says.
In the aforementioned interview with Variety, the Duchess of Sussex touched on the legacy of the late Queen, whom she hailed as “the most shining example” of female leadership. The wide-ranging interview, which was conducted before the Queen’s death but since updated, also saw the duchess open up about her love of cooking and what it’s like to share an office with Prince Harry, and addressed speculation she might return to acting. Have a read here.
