Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are rumoured to be working on a new Rivals-style drama for Netflix centred on two warring families.
Despite Harry’s 2024 documentary Polo being a ratings flop, the Sussexes are reportedly executive producing a scripted TV show about ‘the Sport of Kings’.
The project, which has no title, will revolve ‘around the messy dynamics between two rival teams and the families that lead them’ and has been described as Harry’s new ‘passion project’.
It is not known how far into development the scripted show is – but the drama will apparently aim to ‘widen the scope of what is considered an elitist sport beyond the rich owners and star players’.
Since the drama claims emerged in the US, the show has already been compared to Jilly Cooper’s ‘bonkbuster’ Rivals, which is also set in the glamorous world of polo and has proved a huge hit for Disney+.
The premise of Harry and Meghan’s polo drama – with the tensions between two families at its heart – has raised some eyebrows amongst royal fans given the strained relationship between the Sussexes and the Windsors.
The show is ‘set in the high-flying equestrian town of Wellington, Florida’, according to Deadline.
It is reportedly being written Francisca X. Hu, a little known writer who worked on TV series including the modern reboot of Dynasty and Fox’s Sleepy Hollow.
The proposed drama came after a series of bombshell articles giving an insider’s view of the Sussexes’ de-coupling with Netflix over As Ever and With Love, Meghan.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are rumoured to be working on a new Rivals-style drama for Netflix set in Florida
Disney+’s bonkbuster Rivals has been a huge hit
The Daily Mail has asked Netflix to comment on the claims, and whether this could be the first project under Harry and Meghan’s downgraded ‘first look’ deal with the streamer.
It came after Variety’s brutal takedown of the couple that claimed that the streaming giant is ‘done’ with Harry and Meghan.
The polo drama emerged as Netflix ended its partnership with Markle’s lifestyle brand As Ever and her series With Love, Meghan ended after two seasons.
On Friday the Daily Mail revealed that Ted Sarandos quietly unfollowed Meghan Markle and her lifestyle company As Ever on Instagram around the time her brand was purged by the streamer.
The Duke of Sussex’s passion project documentary Polo ranked at 3,436 out of around 7,000 shows with a disastrous 500,000 views globally in mid-2025.
There was said to be some disappointment at the streamer because it hardly featured him at all.
Harry first pitched the series to Netflix in 2024 and the Sussexes made a headline-grabbing appearance in April that year – a day after it was announced – at the Royal Salute Polo Challenge, sealing their day with an affectionate kiss for the cameras.
But a source claimed later that studio bosses were disappointed to learn that the final edit of the documentary about Harry’s favourite sport features very little footage of him.
Deadline’s story raises more questions about Netflix’s relationship with Harry and Meghan.
Prince Harry in Polo S1, which was watched by just 500,000 people last year, and was at a lowly 3,436 in the Netflix rankings
Netflix’s boss Ted Sarandos was one of the first big names to follow the Duchess of Sussex when she returned to social media at the start of 2025.
In March last year, her lifestyle business’s Instagram account launched, first as American Riviera Orchard and then As Ever, which Mr Sarandos added to his carefully curated list of around 450 accounts he follows.
Ted unfollowed both Meghan and As Ever around a month ago. And so has his creative chief, Bela Bajaria.
Both have been extremely positive about Meghan previously, with Mr Sarandos calling her ‘the rock star’ as recently as last spring.
But there were claims in the US this week – strongly denied by both Netflix and a lawyer for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – that Netflix chief Ted is ‘fed up with the pair’.
Mr Sarandos’s wife, Nicole Avant, does still follow Meghan on Instagram – but not As Ever. A Netflix source told the Daily Mail: ‘Nicole and Meghan are still friends.’
The Daily Mail’s Editor at Large, Alison Boshoff, gave the inside story on the split and wrote that Meghan and As Ever seem to have been expunged with ‘Stalinist thoroughness’ by Netflix’s top brass – seemingly indicating a proper behind-the-scenes falling out.
Sources told her Mr Sarandos was in awe of Meghan’s ability to capture attention, and was impressed by the way every item shown in their 2022 blockbuster, score-settling documentary, Harry & Meghan, sold out – even the Hermes blanket, which was seen artfully folded over the back of a chair.
However, the mood music has changed.
Both Sarandos and Bela Bajaria have been heard saying things in private about the pair which were ‘not complimentary’, although Ms Boshoff’s sources declined to share exactly what.
The streaming giant put money in but the brand struggled and the plug was officially pulled on Friday, March 6.
One source told her: ‘There was just all this jam. We had thought that there would be more to it.’
According to insiders, Hollywood entertainment bible Variety claimed Mr Sarandos is said to have remarked he would not sit for a call with Meghan ‘unless a lawyer was present on the line’.
Netflix states this is ‘absolutely inaccurate’ while lawyer Michael J Kump, acting for the Sussexes, described it in a letter to Variety as ‘blatantly false’ and claimed that Meghan speaks and texts regularly with Mr Sarandos – as well as having ‘been to his home, sans lawyers’.
Last month, sources close to Meghan claimed that she felt Netflix was too cautious with her lifestyle brand selling jam, candles and now flowers.
Insiders at the streaming giant then hit back and told Variety this week that the Sussexes had been difficult to work with at times, with one declaring: ‘The mood in the building is “We’re done”.’
Meghan was reportedly accused by Netflix staff of ‘disappearing’ off Zoom calls to signal her ‘offence’ and talking over her husband in meetings, sometimes ‘to recast Prince Harry’s thoughts’ when he was mid-sentence.
These claims were also denied by their lawyer, who insisted Meghan, as a working mother, only left her screen to care for Archie and Lilibet – not out of frustration.
Meghan returned to the red carpet at a charity bash alongside her best friend Kelly Zajfen in LA on Thursday night – her first public appearance since the Netflix drama this week.
Three different insiders at the streaming giant briefed Variety writer Matt Donnelly that the Duchess of Sussex vanishing for ‘long periods’ during video calls was one of her ‘odd methods of providing feedback’.
‘Later, Netflix teams like the marketing department would be informed that her absence [on Zoom] was due to her being offended by something that was said’, Mr Donnelly claimed.
The Sussexes’ lawyer, Mr Kump, reacted angrily to allegations put to the couple by Hollywood’s entertainment bible before it published the piece this week.
Mr Kump said that if Meghan ever left her screen, it was to tend to her children as a working mother – not out of anger. Prince Harry is said to have said it is ‘categorically false’ that his wife would talk over him.
Meghan made her red carpet return at a charity gala at the Beverly Wiltshire Hotel in LA on Thursday – the first public appearance since the latest Netflix split
The couple’s lawyer also accused Variety of falling into ‘misogynistic characterisation of her bossing her husband around’ after writing that Meghan would ‘recast Harry’s thoughts’ in meetings.
Contesting that his client would walk away from Zoom calls in frustration, he said in a letter to Variety that Meghan ‘works from home, is the mother of young children aged four and six, and often encounters (as many parents who work from home do) children who enter the space unexpectedly during a meeting. Independent of being a parent who works from home, Meghan is also conscious of shielding her team from the distraction of children’.
He added: ‘Nearly all professionals can attest to needing to turn off the audio or camera during a virtual meeting at some point during many hours of virtual business calls.’
Mr Kump also dismissed a number of other claims about Meghan’s behaviour in the piece entitled: Inside Meghan and Harry’s Falling Out With Netflix – and Why the Royal Couple Is Struggling in Hollywood.
The feature, which has made headlines around the world, also alleged she would interrupt her husband, Prince Harry, in meetings.
The publication stated: ‘In virtual and in-person meetings with partners, she tends to talk over or recast Prince Harry’s thoughts, sometimes while he is in mid-sentence, sources say (usually preceded by a touch to the arm or thigh).’
Mr Kump said in his legal that this assertion ‘seems calculated to play into the misogynistic characterisation of her bossing her husband around’.
Prince Harry also attests this is ‘categorically false’, Variety said.
Variety’s brutal takedown of the couple claimed that the streaming giant is said to be ‘done’ with Harry and Meghan.
Hitting back, Netflix’s chief content officer, Bela Bajaria, declared of the Variety piece: ‘I would say don’t believe whatever you read.’
