Is Meghan Markle Getting Residual Checks for ‘Suits’ After Surprise Streaming Success?
Before Meghan Markle married Prince Harry, she played Rachel Zane on the legal drama Suits. The cable TV show aired from 2011 to 2019. Four years after its series finale, Suits became the surprise hit of the summer thanks to its resurgence on the streaming platforms Netflix and Peacock. The show, which began streaming in June 2023, clocked 3 billion viewing minutes in one week between the two platforms. And by July, Suits set a new record as the most-viewed acquired streaming title.
Now many are wondering how much the Duchess of Sussex is banking in residual checks. Here’s more on that and the shoutout Meghan just received from one of her former co-stars.
Meghan’s co-star gives her a shoutout after ‘Suits’ resurgence on streaming platforms
Patrick J. Adams played Mike Ross, who was in a romantic relationship and eventually married Meghan’s character on the show. The two became good friends during their time working together but lost touch after he attended the duchess’s wedding to Harry.
“Quite frankly, I think I’m intimidated,” Adams said during an interview with Radio Times. “I have no doubt I could pick up the phone and call her at any moment, but I don’t know what I would say.”
The actor credits Suits‘ newfound popularity over the last few months to Meghan and gave her props on social media.
In a nod to his former co-star and all the success Suits has had on the streaming platforms, Adams changed his Instagram bio to “The guy from that show you’re watching on that app because that girl married that prince.”
‘Suits’ is one of the most streamed shows ever, but the residuals aren’t much
You may think that because Suits has become such a huge hit that the actors and crew involved with the show are getting big residual checks now, but that’s not the case.
Although Suits is doing well on both platforms, those who made the show happen reportedly aren’t sharing in the riches. In a column for the Los Angeles Times, writer and producer Ethan Drogin shared what he has gotten in residuals writing: “$259.71: That’s how much the Suits episode I wrote ‘Identity Crisis,’ earned last quarter in streaming residuals. All together, NBCUniversal paid the six original Suits writers less than $3,000 last quarter.”
Another writer Lilla Zuckerman is also unhappy with how little she’s receiving in residuals.
“It’s really hard to sort through all these checks because you get dozens of them that are like $7 here, $30 there, and so forth. But that’s with Suits airing on two different major streaming platforms,” she explained. “It’s this blockbuster hit, and I received a grand total of $414 for it. You hope that maybe some magical check will arrive, but it does not appear.”
So who’s reaping the monetary benefits of Suits‘ success? That would be the streaming platforms for putting the show on there. Had the show gone into syndication at another television network, the writers would be paid a nice sum for every rerun that airs. That amount would have been around 50 percent of the original script fee.
The fact that those who worked on the show are getting so little in residuals means that Meghan likely doesn’t care much about those checks since they’re minimal and aren’t going to cover her costs these days.
All nine seasons of the 134-episode-long series are currently available on Netflix and Peacock.
