Even Meghan Markle can’t imagine what caused her old USA Network drama “Suits” to be so successful on streaming services this year, but she’s here for it.
As Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, walked the red carpet at Variety’s “Power of Women” event on Thursday, she was informed by Angelique Jackson, Variety’s senior entertainment reporter, that the legal drama is now in its 45th year, according to Nielsen’s latest report Billions of minutes streamed on Netflix and Peacock combined in weekly streaming report, released Thursday.
“Isn’t that wild?” said Markle, who played paralegal Rachel Zane on “Suits.”
Markle said she had “no idea” what sparked the renewed interest in the series, but then hazarded a guess: “It was great to work on, such a great cast and crew.” We had a really fun time. I was there for seven seasons, so quite a lot. But it’s hard to find a show these days that lets you binge-watch so many episodes, so that might have something to do with it. But good shows last forever.”
While Markle stepped away from “Suits,” which aired for nine seasons from 2011 to 2019, when she got engaged to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex in 2018, she has since returned to Hollywood, this time as a producer. The former actress and her husband are developing television and film projects through their Archewell Productions banner, which has an overall deal with Netflix (coincidentally one of Suits’ streaming properties).
So far, the Sussexes have unveiled three projects with the streamer – the documentary “Heart of Invictus”, the docuseries “Live to Lead” and the autobiographical project “Harry & Meghan” – and Markle says there are more projects to come, with one Focus on titles that evoke emotional reactions from viewers.
“Things that make people feel – I was going to say ‘good,’ but it’s more than that: things that make people feel, right?” Markle said. “And feel a sense of community. But we have so many exciting things on the agenda. I can’t wait until we can announce them, but I’m just really proud of what we’re doing. My husband loves it too. It’s really fun.”
Watch Markle’s full interview with Variety in the video above.
Markle, who was set to be honored in Variety’s 2022 Power of Women class last September, but three weeks before the issue was published, Queen Elizabeth II, grandmother of Markle’s husband, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, died at the age of 96 years. Instead of being included in the Power of Women issue, Markle took part in a new interview with Variety after the official mourning period, published as a cover story on October 19, 2022.
The Power of Women 2023 edition was released Wednesday and features honorees Lily Gladstone, Billie Eilish, Carey Mulligan and Fantasia Barrino, as well as the successful women featured in the annual Women’s Impact Report, which highlights entertainment industry executives.
In addition to recognizing Barrino, Gladstone, Mulligan and Eilish at the “Variety Power of Women Presented by Lifetime” event at Citizen News in Los Angeles, Variety also honored LuckyChap co-founders Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara as producer of the Year Award.