Harry and Meghan have ‘last’ chance to save their image during Hollywood shutdown

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The mark Prince Harry and Meghan Markle hoped to make in Hollywood didn’t exactly go as planned.

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The couple’s creative endeavours have always begun with a lot of hype, but their follow-through has not generally been well received.

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But one industry insider believes the Duke and Duchess of Sussex could repair their reputations, but it needs to happen fast, namely now while the strike by actors and writers rages on.

“Harry and Meghan may yet turn out to be beneficiaries of the strike,” Paul Duddridge, a director and producer told the Express. “So far, their creative projects have received very mixed reviews.”

The work stoppage “will give them a much-needed chance to review their creative strategies while using the industry shutdown as cover,” Duddridge said, adding that the strike “gives them an opportunity to regroup and retool their operations.”

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Last month, Harry and Meghan learned their company Archewell was not among the independent production firms allowed special dispensation by union leaders to complete filming current projects.

Harry has the docuseries Heart of Invictus scheduled to hit Netflix later this year, but the couple’s first scripted series for the streaming service — a prequel to Charles Dickens’ classic novel Great Expectations, with the working title Bad Manners — is on indefinite hold, like hundreds of other projects, and may never be made.

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The couple also don’t have the buzz of an Emmy nomination to fall back on. They were “irritated” and “devastated” to learn their docuseries Harry & Meghan was snubbed, the Mirror previously reported.

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The snub came after they lost their $20-million Spotify contract.

“Harry and Meghan need to flip the narrative,” Duddridge suggested. “They have seemingly worn out the goodwill of the Royal Family and have not set the world alight with their creative output in the U.S.”

He added: “They are now well-positioned to salvage their image with a critical success in the creative sphere. They should grab this opportunity with both hands. It may be their last.”

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