One of the entertainment-industry stories of 2023 was the massive streaming popularity of Suits, the USA Network cable show which starred then-Meghan Markle. Once all of the seasons of Suits were licenced for Netflix and Peacock, it felt like everyone in the world started binge-watching the entire series. The result was that millions of people fell in love with the Duchess of Sussex, and Suits’ creators were encouraged to reboot the show, and the new Suits is already in production. Last year, there was some conversation about how much money Meghan could have made in residuals from Suits’ streaming success. Giving that the issue of residuals was such a huge conflict in last year’s SAG-AFTRA strike, my guess was always that Meghan probably didn’t make much from it. Now the Daily Mail is trying to do some Sussex Math on Meghan’s residuals.
Meghan Markle has netted a six-figure sum from the sale of her TV drama Suits to broadcasters around the world, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. The series ended in 2019 but has recently enjoyed an astonishing resurgence on Netflix, and it has now been sold to more than 240 territories across every continent, with repeat fees lining the pockets of its stars.
Media giant NBCUniversal, which manages sales of the series, is tight-lipped about exactly what royalties actors earn from the deals, but it’s been estimated that the Duchess of Sussex could have earned nearly $200,000 (£155,000) from Netflix alone. That comes on top of whatever she was originally paid per episode to play fiery paralegal Rachel Zane from 2011 to 2017, when she quit to get engaged to Prince Harry.
But instead of fading into insignificance, the series broke records last year when it dropped on Netflix and the US platform Peacock, becoming the most-streamed show of 2023 and topping the charts for 12 weeks running. The surprise success led the BBC to use licence-payers’ money to outbid ITV and buy the UK rights for iPlayer. The Corporation has not revealed how much it spent on the deal, or whether the Duchess benefited financially.
When asked about the show’s resurgence last year, the Duchess described the success as ‘wild’, adding that she had ‘no idea’ what was behind it.
An NBC source confirmed that ‘principal performers’ like Meghan get paid royalties, called ‘residuals’ from global sales, generally earning a percentage of the deal price. Media website Deadline has estimated that Netflix paid $37.5 million (£29.5 million) to license Suits, with the six leading actors sharing 3.6 per cent of that fee. That would mean Meghan could have earned nearly $200,000 from 108 episodes she starred in from this deal alone.
The Mail goes on to credit the public’s fascination with Meghan as the reason for Suits’ streaming success, and then they mention the Sussexes’ mortgage, hahahaha. The Mail continues to be fascinated with the very idea that Harry and Meghan have careers, collect paychecks, pay for their own home and security and that the British media doesn’t get a say in any of it. As for Meghan’s residuals… I actually think $200K is probably accurate. And that’s pathetic, honestly – Suits was legitimately the “show of the year” and people logged billions of viewing hours. The actors should have been getting paid Friends-type residuals in the millions for the streaming success. But here we are.
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