It’s official: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are set to make a new movie—and it’s not about the royal family.
On Wednesday, August 7, Penguin Random House confirmed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s production company, Archewell, has secured the rights to New York Times best-selling novel Meet Me at the Lake. They will work with Netflix to bring the project to life.
Meet Me at the Lake follows the love story of Will and Fern, who meet one day in their 20s and quickly fall for each other. However, when they make a plan to meet up one year later, Will never shows up—leaving Fern heartbroken. Yet a decade later, she realizes that’s far from their end.
“I’m so thrilled about working with Netflix and Archewell to bring Meet Me at the Lake to the screen,” the book’s author, Carley Fortune, tells Vogue. “Will and Fern’s love story is dear to my heart, and I can’t imagine a more perfect partnership.”
While at first the subject matter may seem unexpected for Harry and Meghan, Meet Me at the Lake tackles several themes that echo the couple’s own lives. One character, for example, grapples with losing their parent in a car crash, leading to inevitable comparisons with the tragic death of Princess Diana. There’s also a plot point that addresses postpartum struggles, which Markle spoke openly about during her March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Then, there’s the setting itself: Toronto and its surrounding area, where Markle lived for seven years while filming Suits. In fact, the first line of the book’s Kirkus review sounds like it could be written about Meghan herself, a divorcée who met her now husband when she was 35: “A Canadian 30-something gets a second chance at love and career.”
The news comes at a pivotal time for the couple, who recently have faced scrutiny for their media projects—or lack thereof. In June, Spotify and Archwell announced their mutual decision to part ways after the couple only managed to produce one season of a podcast after signing a reported $20 million deal in 2020. (“Harry and Meghan Produce a Hollywood Flop: Themselves,” read a Wall Street Journal headline.)
However, it seems they’re ready to begin a new productive chapter: In addition to working on Meet Me at the Lake, the duchess recently signed with WME Agency. “Film and television production, brand partnerships, and overall business building will be explored. Acting will not be an area of focus,” reported Variety. Seems like the answer to the frequently asked question of “What’s next for Harry and Meghan?” is, well, quite a lot.