Guy Ritchie’s crime drama The Gentlemen has dropped around half a million British viewers for the opening episode of its second season, according to data from the UK’s official ratings body Barb.
The Netflix series, featuring Theo James as an aristocrat who discovers his inherited estate conceals a sprawling cannabis operation, returned on September 3. Within its first week, the premiere attracted three million viewers in Britain.
That represents a decline of roughly 15 per cent compared with the first season’s debut, which drew 3.5 million streams when it launched in March 2024.
The drop comes amid widespread reports linking the Duchess of Sussex to a potential role in the show’s already-confirmed third season.
Guy Ritchie’s crime drama The Gentlemen has dropped around half a million British viewers for the opening episode of its second season, according to data from the UK’s official ratings body Barb
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GETTY
Reports emerged that the Duchess had been in advanced talks to join the cast of the show’s next instalment prior to her move to Britain with Prince Harry last month.
GB News reported that the acting opportunity played a part in the family’s decision to relocate to the UK with their two children, though it was not the only factor.
Yet within 24 hours of the news becoming public, the prospective deal was cast into serious doubt. Former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown reported that the offer “has been withdrawn due to a public backlash”.
The reluctance was understood to stem from Netflix or the Sussexes rather than the production team behind The Gentlemen, who had expected a significant public reaction. Neither Netflix nor the Sussexes have commented.
Meghan Markle quit Suits in 2017, a year before her royal wedding to Prince Harry
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Before her relationship with Prince Harry, the Duchess was best known for portraying lawyer Rachel Zane across seven seasons of the American legal drama Suits.
She stepped away from acting in 2017, describing the decision to the BBC as “a new chapter” following her meeting with the Duke a year earlier.
More recently, she made a return to the screen with a cameo appearance as herself in the upcoming comedy Close Personal Friends, which stars Lily Collins and Brie Larson.
The Duchess’s connections with Netflix extend well beyond any potential Gentlemen role.
Theo James has poured cold water on speculation that Meghan Markle could feature in the third series of The Gentlemen | GETTY
The streaming platform served as a commercial partner for her US-based lifestyle brand As Ever and hosted its accompanying programme, With Love, Meghan.
A five-year production deal reportedly worth £74million, signed after the couple left their roles as working royals in 2020, fell apart last year following reports of a deteriorating relationship with senior executives.
Netflix’s own data painted an even starker picture globally, with the second season recording 6.7 million views in its opening four days, nearly half the figure achieved by the first season, according to Deadline.
Despite this, the streamer has already greenlit a third run.
The pattern reflects a broader challenge for the platform, which has seen follow-up seasons of several hit programmes struggle to match their predecessors’ audiences. Co-chief executive Ted Sarandos addressed the issue in July, arguing it was an inevitable consequence of the company’s scale.
“Our global reach, our discovery mechanism, releasing all at once… This enables us to find a very large audience early, so our shows tend to start really big,” he said.
He maintained that the rate of decline between seasons had “actually slightly improved this year relative to last year”.