Meghan Markle may be making her return to Hollywood, with the reprisal of an iconic role originally pegged for her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana.
The Duchess of Sussex retired from acting in 2018, the same year she married her long-term partner Prince Harry in a now iconic ceremony in Windsor. She had previously carved out a following of her own, playing a young and assertive paralegal-turned-lawyer, Rachel Zane in Suits.
When the couple famously left their royal duties behind in January 2020 and moved to the United States, many fans of the actress had hoped she would make an expeditious return to her former life.
However, the Duchess has tided herself and the family over with their charity work, a podcast, and a series of documentaries about life in the royal family. Living in Montecito, California, Markle has also had input on a series of small screen projects, including a voiceover role for Disney’s Elephant.
Now, according to Express, she is due to return to the screen as the star of an £80 million (approx. AUD $154 million) project with Netflix that is allegedly linked to Princess Diana.
Express reports that the film may be a remake of The Bodyguard, with Markle set to play the lead role, similar to the original’s Rachel Marron (originally played by Whitney Houston).
Released in 1992, the film tells the story of bodyguard Frank Farmer (originally played by Kevin Costner) hired to protect Rachel, a singer and actor facing stalkers and death threats. In the process, they fall madly in love.
It would be a fitting title, given Meghan’s given name is actually Rachel and her most-known character was also called the same name. Adding to that, the film bears a little-known connection to Meghan’s late mother-in-law, Princess Diana.
Back in 2012, Costner revealed to Anderson Cooper that show makers had planned a Bodyguard sequel, and had wanted Princess Diana to play the starring role.
“The studio liked the idea of doing a Bodyguard 2,” he said, explaining that the movie would have focused on his Bodyguard character Frank Farmer protecting a new love interest, but with the same outcome, inescapable love. The new love interest was to be played by Princess Diana.
“I just remember her being incredibly sweet on the phone, and she asked the question, she goes, ‘Are we going to have like a kissing scene?’ She said it in a very respectful way,” Costner remembered, of speaking with Diana.
“She was nervous because her life was very governed. And I said, ‘Yeah, there’s going to be a little bit of that, but we can make that okay too,’” he added.
Diana hadn’t been completely sure on undertaking the project but had agreed to read the finished script. Costner said he tragically received the script for the remake in August 1997, the day before Princess Diana died in a car accident in Paris.
marie claire UK reports that confirmation of a sequel featuring Meghan Markle is yet to be announced. There’s no denying that the prospect certainly is an exciting one.
