Meghan Markle Reportedly Turned Down An Appearance On Suits LA Before Its Cancellation, And A Source Drops Claims On Alleged Bad Blood

Fans would have loved this.

It was a surprise to many when Suits blew up on Netflix the way it did, leading to a renewed interest in the nine-season legal drama that starred Meghan Markle, Patrick J. Adams, Gina Torres and more. It even led to the Suits LA spinoff, which premiered on the 2025 TV schedule in February but was unfortunately canceled after one season. A source is now saying that Markle could have helped to prevent that, had she not turned down a guest appearance.

The Duchess of Sussex, who portrayed Rachel Zane for seven seasons of the original show, did not appear on Suits LA before it became another of the shows canceled in 2025 — dashing our hopes of a Prince Harry-on-set story. There may be some bad blood there, too, as a source for Radar says the cast and crew of the spinoff is allegedly disappointed that Meghan Markle reportedly turned her back on the show instead of helping. The insider said:

Meghan would not be in the position she is today if producer Aaron Korsh hadn’t cast her in the original show. And it was a bit arrogant of her, not to mention bad karma, to totally turn her back on the franchise that gave her such a huge break. Obviously there’s a lot of disappointment among the cast right now. The consensus is that if Meghan had wanted to lend her support it would have made all the difference, at least in terms of perception, but she clearly had other ideas.

The insider alleges that as the show failed to get good ratings, Suits higher-ups were begging the duchess to make an appearance, as her co-star Gabriel Macht had. Macht reprised the role of Harvey Specter for a three-episode arc, but it didn’t move the dial the way a different cameo likely would have. The source said:

The biggest get for the producers is obviously Meghan Markle.

That clearly didn’t happen, and the source went on to say that not only could Meghan Markle possibly have kept Suits LA from cancellation, but doing a solid for her old friends might have benefited her down the road. In their words:

You have to wonder if there was ever any version of this spinoff that could have drawn in Meghan. Her business stance on TV projects these days is that she needs to be the center of any show she does, and she needs to be a producer as well. Holding a hard line like that shows Meghan still doesn’t fully understand the TV business – because doing an old colleague a favor in a pinch can only bring you goodwill in the future.

It is always good to be owed a favor, and especially if money’s a little tight these days — the Sussexes reportedly had to make some staffing cuts to save some cash recently — it might have been nice for Meghan Markle to have that in her back pocket, if the insider’s allegations are true.

Acting just doesn’t seem to be a part of her plan, though, as she’s focusing on her lifestyle brand. You still can see the Duchess on TV by streaming With Love, Meghan (or Suits) with a Netflix subscription. Suits and Suits LA can also be streamed with a Peacock subscription.