Meghan Markle’s First Netflix Show Is a Time Travel Cartoon About Women’s History

Soon after leaving the royal family and naming their charity, Archewell, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry announced that they opened a production studio and signed a major deal with Netflix with an eye towards “making inspirational family programming.” Now, nearly a year after the September 2019 announcement, Meghan and the team at Archewell Productions have shared details about the company’s first show aimed at children, an animated series tentatively called Pearl, which will mix fantasy and history.

Meghan will executive produce alongside David Furnish, and the show will focus on the adventures of a 12-year-old girl as she meets notable women from 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. “I’m thrilled that Archewell Productions, partnered with the powerhouse platform of Netflix, and these incredible producers, will together bring you this new animated series, which celebrates extraordinary women throughout history. David Furnish and I have been eager to bring this special series to light, and I am delighted we are able to announce it today.”

Furnish, the husband of Meghan and Harry’s close friend Elton John, expressed his admiration for his collaborators in a statement. “Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex and I are deeply passionate about bringing the inspirational and positive stories of extraordinary women from around the world to a global audience of all ages,” he said. “The team collaborating on the series are first class, and Netflix are the perfect partner.”

In April, Netflix announced that it had picked up its first Archewell show, Heart of Invictus, a docuseries helmed by Prince Harry following competitors on their road to compete in the Invictus Games for wounded service members. The games will take place in the Hague in 2022.

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