Harry & Meghan: Escaping The Palace! Third Lifetime movie is confirmed

Harry & Meghan: Escaping The Palace! Third Lifetime movie about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex is confirmed – and will show ‘what drove the couple to leave everything behind’

  • Third Meghan and Harry Lifetime movie has been given the green light 
  • Producers are currently casting for Harry & Meghan: Escaping The Palace 
  • It will reveal ‘what really happened at the palace to drive the couple away’
  • Follows 2018’s Harry & Meghan and 2019’s Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal 

The ‘Megxit’ saga will be brought to screens in a Lifetime movie about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, it has been announced. 

Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace will reveal ‘what really happened inside the palace that drove Harry and Meghan to leave everything behind in order to make a future for themselves and their son Archie,’ according to Deadline

It is the third in a trilogy of Lifetime films about the couple. It follows 2018’s Harry & Meghan, which covered the early days of their relationship, and 2019’s Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal, which focused on the royal wedding

Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace will reveal ‘what really happened inside the palace that drove Harry and Meghan to leave everything behind,’ according to Deadline. Pictured, Parisa Fitz-Henley and Murray Fraser starred in 2019’s Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance 

Deborah Ramsay (Duchess of Cornwall), Steve Coulter (Prince Charles) and Murray Fraser and Parisa Fitz-Henley as Prince Harry and Meghan in 2019's Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance

Deborah Ramsay (Duchess of Cornwall), Steve Coulter (Prince Charles) and Murray Fraser and Parisa Fitz-Henley as Prince Harry and Meghan in 2019’s Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance

Casting for the third film is underway with production scheduled to begin this spring for a release later this year. 

According to Deadline, the new film will ‘detail Meghan’s growing isolation and sadness, their disappointment that “The Firm” was not defending them against the press’s attacks and Harry’s fear that history would repeat itself and he would not be able to protect his wife and son from the same forces that caused his mother’s untimely death.’

It will also look at ‘family feuds’ between Kate and Meghan, Charles and Harry and Harry and William, it is reported.

Producers will no doubt draw heavily on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s explosive Oprah Winfrey interview, which aired earlier this month. 

It remains to be seen who will play the lead roles, with two sets of actors appearing in the first two films.  

Parisa Fitz-Henley and Murray Fraser played Meghan and Harry, respectively, in the first biopic, which explored how the couple’s relationship blossomed from their first date in 2016 to their engagement in November 2017.

Casting for the third film is underway with production scheduled to begin this spring for a release later this year. Pictured, the actors playing the Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry in 2019's Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal

Casting for the third film is underway with production scheduled to begin this spring for a release later this year. Pictured, the actors playing the Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry in 2019’s Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal

It aired in May 2018, just days before the couple’s royal wedding. 

The second movie offered a playful, fictional account of the events immediately leading up to Harry and Meghan’s May 2018 wedding and their first few months as husband and wife. It aired in May 2019. 

Actress Tiffany Smith played the Duchess of Sussex, while British star Charlie Field took on the role of the Duke of Sussex in the film.  

Speaking to Vanity Fair about the second film, screenwriter Scarlett Lacey explained  the plot features a mix of truths and fiction. Lacey returns to write the third installment, and will no doubt bring a similar approach.

Lacey said at the time: ‘This film deals with the drama of planning a wedding: the moment you’d much rather elope, the moment your family might mess it all up – and they nearly do.’

Star Tiffany said in the same interview: ‘We got to do some stuff with Kate, which I really liked.

‘I think one of the biggest things, obviously, about Meghan is that she’s such a supporter of other women and women’s empowerment. That was something I think was important for all of us to focus on, myself included.’

Admitting that the scenes surrounding Meghan’s rift with her father Thomas Markle were hard to film as they made her question how hard it must have been for the Duchess to not have all of her family at the wedding, Tiffany said: ‘The film definitely addresses a lot of the family drama.’

Speaking about her sources for the film, Lacey added: ‘Some of the people I talk to are close to the royals. Others are Hollywood friends of Meghan, and others are journalists and experts in the royal field.’