Netflix May Delay Prince Harry And Meghan Markle’s Docuseries After Former British Prime Minister John Major Complained About “The Crown”
Another day, another appalled British dude who should be sending Netflix a lovely gift basket as a thank-you for casting a relative hottie to play them on The Crown, but is complaining instead. As we know, The Palace’s ass is already puckered over what might be depicted next season as The Crown catches up to more modern events. And now, with the premiere of season five fast approaching, former British PM Sir John Major (played by Jonny Lee Miller) has come out strongly against a plot point that he thinks is going to play out in an upcoming episode involving King Charles III, formerly known as Prince Charles (Dominic West), whining to him that his mom THE QUEEN (Imelda Staunton) won’t abdicate the throne to him. I’m like, Sir, get your priorities straight. Jonny Lee Miller has actual lips! I mean, they’re still British, but they’re there.
According to Deadline, Sir John Major made such a fuss over the episode, calling it “a barrel-load of malicious nonsense,” that Netflix is “rattled” and has decided to reverse course on their decision to air Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s docuseries immediately following season five of The Crown. So really, Meghan and Harry should be the ones sending a thank you gift to Sir John for the extension since we know their asses weren’t ready. Deadline reports:
Rattled after attacks on Season 5 of The Crown, Netflix has decided to postpone its documentary series featuring Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, until next year.
The documentary unofficially had been slated to stream on Netflix in December following the November 9 launch of The Crown.
However, Netflix came under fire over the weekend from former UK Prime Minister John Major, who complained about a plot line in Episode 1 of Season 5 suggesting that in 1991 Prince Charles, now King Charles III, summoned Major to moan about having to wait to take over the throne.
The episode in question, titled Queen Victoria Syndrome, is said to be inspired by a Sunday Times poll that ran in 1992 “which argued that the monarchy was dated,” and that old Liz should hand over the reins to a hip young stud such as Charles. I guess I can see why 73-year-old Chucky Trips might feel some kind of way about having the passage “an ageing monarch, too long on the throne whose remoteness from the modern world has led people to grow tired not just of her but of the monarchy itself” repeated ad nauseam in Dominic’s inevitable Emmy reel. And it seems as if Charles’ invisible hand has led “other establishment figures,” to “savage” the show, causing Netflix to reevaluate the release date for Meghan and Harry’s mysterious collaboration with Archwell “Productions” (emphasis mine since they ain’t produced shit yet).
“They’re rattled at Netflix, and they blinked first and decided to postpone the documentary,” a source told Deadline.
The untitled documentary series produced by Netflix and Archewell Productions did not set an official broadcast date. However, officials at Netflix had stated several times this year that they’d wanted to do a royal double-whammy, with The Crown to run first, to be followed a few weeks later by the docuseries, some of which was filmed at Harry and Meghan’s Montecito estate.
Both Netflix and Buckingham Palace have been ultra-sensitive about both The Crown and the docuseries since Queen Elizabeth’s death September 8, which is when Charles ascended to the throne. It may well suit the Duke and Duchess to have the documentary delayed while they reconsider its content.
When asked for comment, Netflix pulled back even further from the Archwell documentary saying,”there’s never been any documentary from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex confirmed,” for which there is only one logical explanation. The contract Meghan and Harry signed with Netflix is supposed to include “documentaries, feature films, scripted television shows and children’s series.” So I take back what I said about Archwell not producing shit. Meghan and Harry are obviously earning their keep by writing for The Crown.
And here are the posters for the upcoming season of The Crown:
Pic: Matt Crossick/PA Images/INSTARimages.com