Meghan Markle spotted on set of rom-com movie, sparks speculation of return to acting

Meghan Markle has been spotted on a film set, sparking speculation she might be returning to her former profession.

According to The Sun, Markle was seen on the Pasadena set of Close Personal Friends, a rom-com starring Oscar winner Brie Larson, The Boys’ Jack Quaid, Crazy Rich Asians’ Henry Golding, What We Do in the Shadows’ Natasia Demetriou and Emily in Paris lead Lily Collins.

The director is Jason Orley, who helmed the rom-com I Want You Back. The production is an Amazon MGM Studios project.

It’s unclear if Markle was just visiting or if she will have an onscreen role as either a fictional character or a dramatised version of herself.

Markle was an actor when she met Prince Harry in 2016 with a regular gig on the American legal drama Suits.

When she and Harry sat down with the BBC for their first joint interview a year later, she spoke about her decision to walk away from Hollywood.

“I don’t see it as giving anything up. I just see it as a change. It’s a new chapter, and keep in mind I’ve been working on my show for seven years,” she said. “We were very fortunate to have that sort of longevity on a series.

“For me, once we hit the 100 episode marker, I thought, ‘I have ticked this box and I feel really proud of the work we’ve done there and now it’s time to work as a team with (Harry).”

She explained at the time she wanted to focus her energy on causes that were important to her, and wanted to use her platform to carry those responsibilities.

Suits was Markle’s most prominent role as an actor, and she stayed with the show for seven years out of its nine seasons.

Prior to that, she had mostly single-episode guest spots on series such as Without a Trace, Fringe, CSI: Miami, 90210 and Castle. She also appeared in 34 episodes of Deal or No Deal as one of the women holding the cases.

On the big screen, she had background or supporting roles in Remember Me, Get Him to the Greek and Horrible Bosses.

Markle married Harry in May 2018 and for a while, carried out duties as a working member of the British royal family. Following press intrusion and a whirlwind of negative media attention and public criticism, she and Harry sensationally quit the royals and moved to North America.

The agreed to drop the His/Her Royal Highness salutations but retained the titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

They now live in California and run a media production business, initially signing exclusivity deals with Netflix and Spotify. Harry also released a best-selling tell-all memoir, the publication of which further strained his relationships with his birth family.

The Spotify deal was short-lived and ended after a year, having produced only one season of Markle’s show, Archetypes, on which she interviewed famous guests including Issa Rae, Jenny Slate, Margaret Cho, Mariah Carey and Serena Williams.

For Netflix, Markle and Harry produced a docuseries about themselves, an Invictus Games feature documentary, a Polo documentary, a series called Live to Lead, and two seasons of lifestyle program With Love, Meghan.

The couple extended their deal with Netflix earlier this year but for considerably less money and no longer under exclusive terms, according to The New York Times.

She recently attended designer shows at Paris Fashion Week.