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Netflix cancels Meghan Markle's animated series 'Pearl', Internet says 'we saw it coming'

Filmmaker David Furnish was expected to produce the show, which was believed to be about Meghan Markle's own childhood

Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle's animated series has been dropped by Netflix. The streaming platform axed the renegade royal’s expected upcoming animated series because of budget cuts amid plummeting subscriber numbers, Deadline reported on Sunday, May 1. 'Pearl', the working title of the series was created by Markle through Archewell Productions, the shingle the Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry set up at Netflix in fall of 2020 to create scripted series, docu-series, documentaries, features and children’s programming. 'Pearl' was to be Archewell’s first animated series.

Markle had announced the now-canceled program last July. She was taking on the roles of 'creator and executive producer', marking the first time the former actress and 'Suits' star would work in the position of EP. At the time Markle said, “Like many girls her age, our heroine Pearl is on a journey of self-discovery as she tries to overcome life’s daily challenges. I’m thrilled that Archewell Productions, partnered with the powerhouse platform of Netflix and these incredible producers, will together bring you this new animated series, which celebrates extraordinary women throughout history. David Furnish and I have been eager to bring this special series to light, and I am delighted we are able to announce it today.”

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Other projects set under the Archewell, Markle and Harry's banner, are still moving forward at the streamer, including Harry's upcoming docuseries Heart of Invictus, which follows athletes' journeys to the Invictus Games, which took place at The Hague, Netherlands last month. The Sussexes signed a $112 million deal with Netflix last year but are yet to produce anything for the streaming giant. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex said they hoped to create content that “informs but also gives hope” when they revealed the megabucks partnership in September last year.

Markle published a children's book last year. The picture book version of 'The Bench' has the text, which is in rhymes, illustrated by watercolors by bestselling Californian artist Christian Robinson. The publisher, Random House, says the book is a portrait of “the special relationships between fathers and sons, through a mother’s eyes.” Markle was so harshly criticized for the price of the book because reviewers called it an amateurish effort on part of the Duchess of Sussex.

People took to Twitter to express their views on the cancellation of the series. Many made sarcastic and funny comments saying that they were expecting this news a long time ago. One user wrote "Well if it was as good as the Bench, the public have really dodged a bullet there then!!". Another person commented "You must be bursting of happiness!!!!!". "We saw it coming", wrote another. "Well, what GOSE around comes around", tweeted another. "After her children's book, which no one bought I'm not surprised," commented another user.