Meghan Markle has had her new Netflix show ‘renewed for a second season’ just days after the first episodes were panned by critics and fans.
The Duchess confirmed the news on Instagram this afternoon, when she uploaded a story with the caption ‘I’m thrilled to share that season 2 of With Love, Meghan is coming!’
During each of the eight 33-minute episodes, which dropped on Tuesday, Meghan was joined by guests as she offered lifestyle tips from inside a rented $8million (£5million) mansion near the Sussexes’ Montecito home.
Despite the show being largely panned by media outlets on both sides of the Atlantic, the controversy that continues to surround Meghan is said to be the reason TV bosses were convinced to renew for a second series, which has already finished filming.
‘This may raise a few eyebrows but one thing which Netflix love is controversy – and this show certainly created alot of debate,’ one TV insider told the Sun.
They added: ‘Many were so scathing about the eight-part series that they thought there was no way it would get another season.
‘But it seems the streamer is delighted with the chatter its created on both sides of the Atlantic this week.’
Meghan Markle has had her new Netflix show ‘renewed for a second season’ just days after the first episodes were panned by critics and fans
Meghan Markle on her new show which has been renewed for a second season, according to reports
The episodes feature Meghan inviting famous friends to a California estate where she shares cooking, gardening and hosting tips.
However, the new series was slammed by reviewers as ‘gormless lifestyle filler’ with a ‘tangible desperation’ following its release.
Others said it shows the Duchess is ‘attempting to cling to fame by any means possible’, while another described how she was ‘joylessly filling kids’ party bags with seeds’.
Guardian TV writer Stuart Heritage said the series was ‘so pointless it might be the Sussexes’ last TV show’ and ‘might also be the final thing she makes for Netflix’.
The Telegraph gave the show just two stars. In a review, they said the series was an ‘exercise in narcissism, filled with extravagant brunches, celebrity pals and business plugs’.
In one episode, Meghan insisted her surname was Sussex as she corrected her celebrity friend and The Office star Mindy Kaling.
The Duchess of Sussex called herself a ‘latchkey kid’ who ‘grew up with a lot of fast food and TV tray dinners’, listing off US chains Pollo Loco, Taco Bell and Jack In The Box.
But Mindy seemed to get under Meghan’s skin with her response, as she said: ‘I don’t think anyone in the world knows that Meghan Markle has eaten Jack In The Box and loves it.’
The Duchess shared a sweet gift from her husband and children. Meghan shared a photo of a large bouquet of flowers with a special card from her family. ‘Congratulations mumma!’ it read. ‘We love your show, and we love you.’The note was signed ‘Lili, Archie and Papa’.
The eight episode series shows Meghan inviting famous friends to her house and features brief appearances from husband Harry
‘You know I’m Sussex now’: Awkward moment Meghan addresses name
Trying to hide her frown with a smile, she replied: ‘It’s so funny you keep saying Meghan Markle, you know I’m Sussex now.’
Meghan shared a number of recipes throughout the series, including for spaghetti, a honey and lemon cake and a cooked breakfast.
Meghan said her new show had helped her to ‘find herself’ again.
But despite her huge two-million-strong following on social media, she insisted she instead saw as a ‘female founder’ and ‘entrepreneur’ rather than an influencer.
Since Harry and Meghan signed the mega deal with Netflix in 2020, there has been one smash hit and three relative duds.
The biographical ‘Harry & Meghan’ was the streaming service’s biggest documentary debut, viewed in almost 29 million households in its first four days, and proved a global sensation.
But Polo, a sports docuseries, Live to Lead – which focused on ‘global justice activists’ – and Heart of Invictus, about Harry’s games for wounded soldiers, proved lacklustre additions that failed to set the streaming service’s viewing figures ablaze.
With Love, Meghan launched on the Netflix at 8am UK time today and midnight in California
Meghan makes apparent jab at Royal Family during her brunch toast
Meghan holds a chicken during an episode of her new Netflix show which came out today
‘With Love, Meghan’ sees the duchess trying to promote herself in a new way as a ‘domestic goddess’, baking cakes, arranging flowers and slipping into a beekeeper’s suit to collect honey.
However, in Los Angeles where Meghan and Harry live with their two children, Archie, five, and Lilibet, three, sources have said the Sussexes relationship with Netflix is on borrowed time, amid claims they have proven hard to work with.
‘The word bandied around internally is ‘nightmare’,’ one insider told the Sunday Times, with others claiming the chances of a deal being renewed would rest squarely on whether or not ‘With Love, Meghan’ proved a hit.
Unlike Polo, where the Sussexes had only a fleeting cameo, Meghan, 43, will be take centre stage in her new show, with Harry, 40, featuring in the background.
The former Suits star-turned-royal will also have the support of her celebrity pals, like close friend and fellow actress Abigail Spencer and the comedian Mindy Kaling, who both feature in the eight-part series.
And its hoped the show could be a big platform for the Sussexes’ future leisure brand, ‘As Ever’, to launch from, which will sell items like jams, tea, pet products and soaps in shops owned by Netflix.
The first products from Meghan Markle’s As Ever brand with Netflix have been revealed today
Meghan floods new Netflix cookery show with bizarre tips
As Mindy looked confused, Meghan, who has only visited Sussex once, continued: ‘You have kids and you go “No, I share my name with my children”‘
Speaking to People magazine ahead of the release of her series the 43-year-old royal said filming her new show had helped her to rediscover her creativity – and that it had reignited ‘a spark’ in Harry’s eye.
‘It’s almost like a honeymoon period again because it’s exactly how it was in the beginning when he’d watch me scribbling away, writing newsletters, fine-tuning edits and just really being in the details of it,’ she told People magazine.
‘I think he loves watching as much as I love doing that creative process. It’s just been fun. This is who I’ve always been.’
Previously, the duchess had a significant setback when her $20 million Spotify podcast series was cancelled with Spotify executive Bill Simmons describing Meghan and husband Prince Harry as ‘grifters.’
