The Lifetime Royal Cinematic Universe (LRCU) is continuing! Because, of course, a movie channel is going to try to capitalize from all the shenanigans of recent months!
That’s right, Lifetime has announced a film chronicling Harry and Meghan’s exit from the British royal family, Variety reported.
The upcoming film will be the third of a franchise including 2018’s Harry & Meghan, which followed their meeting and subsequent love story and 2019’s Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal, which followed their first year of marriage.
Here’s the scoop via the official press release obtained by The Root:
Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace reveals what really happened inside the palace that drove Harry and Meghan to leave everything behind in order to make a future for themselves and their son Archie. The movie will detail Meghan’s growing isolation and sadness, their disappointment that “The Firm” was not defending them against the press’s attacks and Harry’s fear that history would repeat itself and he would not be able to protect his wife and son from the same forces that caused his mother’s untimely death. Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace will also reveal the private family feuds between Will and Harry, Kate and Meghan, and Harry with Will and Charles, that lead to the ultimate break from the royal ties.
Harry & Meghan: Escaping The Palace is executive produced by Merideth Finn and Michele Weiss. Menhaj Huda will direct from a script by Scarlett Lacey.
Following the couple’s much-discussed interview with Oprah Winfrey, we have a feeling Harry and Meghan’s testimonies may inspire some deeper speculation into that “private family feud” fodder. There are certainly a lot of angles to cover from the interview effect alone, whether it’s the tabloid harassment, the obsessed nincompoop named after several oceanic docks who supported a smear campaign against Meghan or the subsequent (and very transparent) PR cleanup from the royal family.
Parisa Fitz-Henley, the leading lady of the franchise’s first film, actually spoke to The Root in 2018 about her experience portraying Meghan as well as shared her thoughts on the sensationalism surrounding the couple at the time.
“Listening to people who claim to be someone’s friend [or family] dishing their stuff about them means that they’re immediately not trustworthy, and I can’t really take anything that they’re saying seriously as research for myself,” Fitz-Henley said at the time. “So, what was important for me was just to observe her as much as possible...this is really just an homage to her and to them as a couple.”
Of course, that very sensationalism (and harassment) has heightened to the point of a highly publicized lawsuit since that interview with Fitz-Henley.
As for the upcoming third film, we don’t yet know any casting news or the official release date, but we’ll keep you posted once we know. I do have a few questions, though! Since like most Lifetime movies of this nature, this upcoming film isn’t authorized by Meghan, Harry or the Royal Family...so any or all of these can happen:
- Will there be a dramatized re-enactment of their Oprah interview? If so, who will play Oprah?
- Will there be a dramatized reenactment of Alex Beresford reading Piers Morgan so masterfully, causing the obsessed co-anchor to walk off the set of his own show (and then replacing him)?
- Will we get an inside look at the step-by-step process of getting the ridiculous story of Prince William being named the “world’s sexiest bald man” (in what world hasn’t been confirmed yet) released to the press?
I guess we’ll see when we see!