Netflix has dropped an animated series created by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, the latest in a series of cost-saving measures after losing 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter.
The Los Angeles Times confirmed on Sunday that the streaming giant has decided not to move forward with “Pearl,” a feminist children’s series produced by former Meghan Markle through Archewell Productions. (The retired TV actress and her husband, Prince Harry, signed a major production deal with Netflix in 2020.)
In July, the Duchess was ‘delighted’ and ‘thrilled’ to announce that Archewell had teamed up with Netflix for ‘Pearl’, about a young girl inspired by ‘extraordinary women throughout history’.
“Like many girls her age, our heroine Pearl is on a journey of self-discovery as she tries to overcome life’s daily challenges,” Meghan said in a statement at the time. “I was looking forward to spotlighting this special series.”
The cancellation of “Pearl” comes shortly after Netflix fired an undisclosed number of marketing employees, several of whom expressed their frustration this week on social media. The streamer has been scrambling to cut costs after estimating it would lose an additional 2 million subscribers in the current quarter.
“Netflix hired me seven months ago only to fire me and a bunch of other talented people today,” wrote Evette Dionne, former Netflix editorial and publishing manager. on Twitter. “I’m going to take time to exist, so don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any publishing and content strategy opportunities.”
“Netflix just fired me and the brilliant members of my team,” tweeted H. Drew Blackburn, who writes for Netflix’s pop culture website, Tudum. “Keep canceling your subscriptions!” »
Although “Pearl” is no longer in development at Netflix, the company still has various Archewell projects underway, including “Heart of Invictus,” a documentary series about the Invictus Games executive produced by Prince Harry.
Other anime series recently dropped by Netflix include “Dino Daycare,” created by Jeff King, and “Boons and Curses,” created by Jaydeep Hasrajani.
“Our whole team just got fired from ‘Boones and Curses’ at Netflix,” tweeted animation director and screenwriter Ian Laser.
“The work we did was amazing. So sad that no one will see the beautiful things we were working on.