Netflix Exec’s Cryptic Comment Keeps Meghan Markle’s ‘The Gentlemen’ Casting Alive: ‘All Bets Are Off’

Will she or won’t she? 

Meghan Markle’s unexpected return to the U.K. could also involve a return to acting, if rumors are to be believed. 

Shortly after it was revealed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would be ditching California for a new home in Britain, reports started to circulate that Meghan might have landed a role in the third season of Netflix’s hit series The Gentleman. That chatter was immediately followed by speculation that the offer of a role had been withdrawn, leaving the question of her possible future on the action/comedy series up in the air. 

Netflix exec comments on Meghan Markle acting rumors 

Now, a Netflix executive is weighing in on Meghan’s future with the streamer, though her comments aren’t providing much clarity.

“All bets are off,” Manda Levin, who is Netflix’s scripted chief in the U.K., said when asked about the casting rumors at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Wednesday, August 26 (via Hello!).  

Those comments seem to suggest that the Suits star could still land a role in the Guy Ritchie show, which stars Theo James as an aristocrat who inherits an estate that’s home to a vast weed empire. It’s a surprising twist for the supposedly retired actress whose name initially came up casually in conversations about The Gentlemen Season 3. 

Sources close to Meghan said that she is keeping her options open. 

“There have been inquiries in the entertainment space recently and things that she is considering but nothing is firm yet. There are only conversations,” a person close to the family told Hello!.

How rumors of Meghan Markle joining ‘The Gentlemen’ got started 

According to Variety, talk of casting Meghan came before she and Harry even announced they were returning to the U.K. It was an “incredibly nascent concept” that was barely considered “real on any level,” a source said. Ritchie apparently mentioned the royal during a brainstorming session, one of “a smorgasbord of names” that came up. 

At some point, a report of that conversation appears to have made its way to the Duchess, perhaps either via Ritchie or through their agents. The insider suspects her team then leaked the casting talk to the media, perhaps as a way to signal that she was open to roles.

“I’m stunned if this isn’t coming from her [camp],” the source said. 

The outlet speculated that Meghan could appear as the daughter of Giancarlo Esposito’s American billionaire character. And while some have said that the resulting media frenzy and backlash killed any chance of Meghan appearing in the show, Variety’s source said that’s not the case. 

 “I wouldn’t rule out it happening,” they said. 

Meanwhile, other opportunities might present themselves, even if The Gentlemen casting doesn’t work out. One person said she could even pursue live theater. 

“I know at least three or four West End theatre producers who would have her in a production tomorrow,” Mark Borkowski, a PR expert, told Hello!

The Gentlemen Season 2 premieres September 3 on Netflix. 

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