Suits Had One Meghan Markle Line Blocked By The Royal Family

Suits creator Aaron Korsh reveals that the British royal family blocked one of Meghan Markle’s lines. The legal drama series, which follows a college dropout who uses his photographic memory to secure a job in one of New York’s top law firms, featured a stellar cast including Patrick Adams, Gabriel Macht, Rick Hoffman, Sarah Rafferty, and Markle, who played Rachel Zane, an ambitious paralegal. After making a name for herself on the show, Markle’s relationship with Prince Harry, and the royal family by extension, began to affect her time on the show. She was eventually written out at the end of Suits season 7 along with Adams.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter through an interview conducted in accordance with WGA guidelines amid the writers strike, Korsch explains that while Markle was still on Suits, the royal family blocked one of her lines because they weren’t exactly comfortable with it, and they didn’t want to leave any room for misinterpretation. He further reveals that they had to alter the line, and he wasn’t too pleased about it. Read his full comments below:

I remember one was a particular line of dialogue and, look, I’ll just say what the line was. My wife’s family, when they have a topic to discuss that might be sensitive, they use the word, “poppycock.” Let’s say you wanted to do something that you knew your husband didn’t want to do, but you wanted to at least discuss it, and in just discussing it, you wouldn’t hold him to anything he said, you’d be like, “It’s poppycock.” So, in the episode, Mike and Rachel [Markle’s character] were going to have a thing, and as a nod to my in-laws, we were going to have her say, “My family would say poppycock.” And the royal family did not want her saying the word. They didn’t want to put the word “poppycock” in her mouth. I presume because they didn’t want people cutting things together of her saying “cock.” So, we had to change it to “bullshit” instead of “poppycock,” and I did not like it because I’d told my in-laws that [poppycock] was going to be in the show.

How Markle’s Relationship With Prince Harry Led To Her Eventual Exit From Suits

Prior to starring in Suits, Markle was a relatively unknown figure who had only taken on a number of fringe roles and appeared in a few low-budget productions. Playing Rachel Zane, however, quickly propelled her to the limelight, and she built on this fame with a strong social media presence and a lifestyle blog called The Tig. Eventually, though, Markle’s relationship with Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, which began in 2016 but became public the following year, started hampering her role on Suits.

The royal family’s intentional and careful curation of their public image meant that Markle could no longer operate like she used to. She had to follow certain protocols, refrain from public life outside approved royal appearances, and she eventually had to close down her blog. With commendable foresight, Markle had informed her Suits co-stars and the production team of her relationship with Prince Harry early on, and this allowed them ample time to adequately conclude her arc before she decided to completely retire from acting in 2018.

While some might not have been too pleased with Markle’s exit from Suits, it was arguably for the best. The scrutiny and demands that came with a relationship with the Duke of Sussex could not allow her to keep playing Rachel Zane, especially because of her onscreen relationship with Adams’ Mike. This dilemma also hampered the writers’ creativity, as concessions had to be made for her character, as Korsh revealed above. Even though Markle was pivotal during her time on Suits, the writers managed to give her a befitting conclusion in the end.

Source: THR