It’s not a matter of whether Meghan Markle should return to ‘Suits’ but more if she can return to the show

The show is now undergoing more retrospective reviews from media commentators (myself included in writing this) and as a campaign to bring the show back after this new-found success, it might be the case that a network out there can see that there is still an interest in the legal show.

Of course, this is all conjecture; will the USA Network or another network decide to take a “punt” on the show, which made household names out of Gina Torres and Patrick J. Adams, and of course gave the world a proper glimpse of the future Duchess of Sussex, is a completely different question altogether. 

Who knows - maybe Netflix themselves might decide to reboot the series, akin to how they rebooted “Arrested Development,” another popular US television series that saw a renewed life on the streaming giant and became a “Netflix Original.” We know that there is money to be made with television series exclusive to the streaming service, just look at “Bridgerton” for a prime example.

But with the focus on a reboot more-or-less now looking at whether Meghan Markle, currently looking for a home in Malibu with Prince Harry if the rumours are true, might return to the series, I pose the question - can she return to “Suits” given her recent history since the show finished?

Can the Duchess of Sussex return to “Suits”?

Before we start to get our claws out, know that this isn’t a knock on Meghan Markle’s acting career; no need to be catty about that when there are plenty of other articles lurking around the internet that will tell you if she is/is not a good actress. This is more the situation that Meghan finds herself in as a former working Royal and if it’s tenable for her to return to a television series.

Which poses the first question if she returns; how are you going to have a television show focusing on other characters when the majority of viewers will be tuning in purely to see Meghan Markle act? So the focus, as much as they’d perhaps want to rest on the original lead characters Harvey Specter and Michael Ross (who did marry Meghan’s character), is always going to be on Meghan - an unfortunate by-product of marrying a royal.

Then of course there is the fee that she might command joining the show if it does get a reboot. We know that she recently signed a deal with the high-profile talent agency William Morris in July, which would mean that she could command a much larger fee to act on the show. 

Cheat Sheet reported that Markle, as Rachel Zane, was being paid $50,000 USD per episode (just short of £40,000 per episode for UK finance enthusiasts), but since her marriage to Prince Harry, you can book Markle for an appearance for the low-fee of $2,500,000 USD, according to CTI. That’s for a one-off appearance; so how much could the power brokers at William Morris demand from producers of “Suits” for a regular role on the show?

In total, there were 134 episodes of “Suits”, of which Meghan starred in 108 episodes (source: IMDB). That would mean that for her role as Rachel Zane, Markle made $5.4 million USD in total. That’s just over half of what it would cost for Meghan Markle to appear at your next school fete (or charity auction if your school doesn’t make quite that much money.)

So it’s not merely a question of should Meghan Markle make a return to a hypothetical “Suits” reboot; financially, can they afford to take the Duchess on as a cast member should it happen and will her presence overshadow every other acting talent that the show manages to recruit or return to our screens?