After last year’s hit, Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance , Lifetime is set to continue the royal journey between Prince Harry and his American bride, Meghan Markle. Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal is the working title on the sequel and will follow the first 12 months of married life for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
A Royal Wedding looked at the meeting and subsequent courtship of Harry and Meghan. According to the press release, Becoming Royal will continue to tell the royal love story “of newlyweds Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, and Prince Harry, pulling back the curtain to reveal the untold joys and challenges of life inside the royal family during their pivotal first year of marriage.”
However, if you loved the casting choices in the original Lifetime movie, there is some bad news ahead.
While this new movie is a sequel to A Royal Romance , according to TV Line , the two lead characters will be recast due to availability issues. The original movie starred Murray Fraser ( Victoria ) as Prince Harry and Parisa Fitz-Henley ( Midnight, Texas ) as Meghan Markle. While A+E president of programming Rob Sharenow revealed the recasting during the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour in L.A. recently, there is no news yet on who will fill the roles of Meghan and Harry in the sequel, according to People .
“Unfortunately, our original royal couple, Murray [Fraser] and Parisa [Fitz-Henley] are not available,” Sharenow said, according to The Wrap . “So more news to come on who will take their crowns.”
It is also unclear yet if other actors will reprise their roles for the royal sequel. However, Sharenow did announce that the Harry and Meghan sequel was greenlit with the “entire production team.”
Merideth Finn ( The Rite ) and Michele Weiss ( How To Be Single ) will act as executive producers on Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal . Menhaj Huda ( Coronation Street ) will direct the upcoming movie from a script by Scarlett Lacey ( The Royals ).
As Town and Country points out, Harry and Meghan met on a blind date in July of 2016. Things moved along quickly from there and Harry appeared to know right from that first date that Meghan was the one for him. However, it wasn’t until October that news was leaked to the press about the relationship but a formal announcement from Harry wasn’t made until November 8 after Meghan experienced a “wave of abuse and harassment.”
The couple was eventually wed in May of last year. The royal nuptials were broadcast worldwide. Then, in October, during the beginning of their first official tour together, Meghan’s pregnancy was announced to the world. And, so began an amped-up frenzy by royal fans as the baby bump watch began. It is likely that these details will be included in the upcoming royal sequel.
Production on Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal begins later this month in Vancouver and is expected to air in the springtime on Lifetime.
