Harry and Meghan’s Netflix Pipeline Keeps Growing With New War Movie Project

Archewell is developing No Way Out for Netflix, with Oscar-nominated Bridge of Spies writer Matt Charman adapting the Afghanistan war memoir. Another day, another reminder that the “Netflix is done with Harry and Meghan” narrative was built on vibes, anonymous sources and wishful thinking.

Deadline has exclusively reported that Prince Harry and Meghan Sussex’s Archewell Productions is developing a feature film adaptation of No Way Out: The Searing True Story of Men Under Siege for Netflix. The book, written by Major Adam Jowett, tells the story of Easy Company’s 21-day defence of Musa Qala in Afghanistan in July 2006. Matt Charman, the Oscar-nominated writer of Bridge of Spies, is writing the adaptation.

So to reiterate, this is not a vague rumour from a royal commentator. That is an industry trade reporting a scripted Netflix project with a serious writer attached. And yes, the timing is delicious.

For months, certain corners of the media have insisted that Netflix had soured on the Sussexes, that Hollywood had moved on, and that Archewell Productions was basically finished. Yet Deadline reports that Harry and Meghan are developing another feature project, one that sits squarely in Harry’s world of military service, veterans and the human cost of war. So much for that collapse narrative.

What is No Way Out about?

According to Deadline, the book tells the story of Easy Company, a unit of Paras and Royal Irish rangers tasked with holding a district in Helmand province in July 2006 during the war in Afghanistan. Major Adam Jowett led the unit during a 21-day siege that became one of the most intense defensive battles British forces faced in the region.

The project is being adapted by Matt Charman, the Oscar-nominated writer of Bridge of Spies, Steven Spielberg’s Cold War thriller that earned Charman an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. That is not a B-list writer. That is a serious screenwriter with a serious track record. Harry, Meghan and Tracy Ryerson, Archewell’s scripted content lead, will produce, with the adaptation being written for Netflix as part of Archewell’s deal.

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This project makes perfect sense for Harry

Say what you want about the Sussexes’ production slate, but No Way Out is not a random celebrity vanity project. Prince Harry served two tours in Afghanistan, including time in Helmand Province, and later served as an Apache helicopter co-pilot gunner. He has spent years advocating for veterans through the Invictus Games and other initiatives. A war memoir about British soldiers under siege, written by a commanding officer who led them through hell, is exactly the kind of story that would resonate with him personally.

This is Harry leaning into his own history, his own community, his own understanding of military sacrifice. The choice of material shows that Archewell is thinking strategically about its talent’s strengths.

So much for the “Netflix is done with them” narrative

Let me remind you of what Netflix’s chief content officer Bela Bajaria, actually said, back when the tabloids were spinning a different story:

“We still have a relationship with them. We have movies in development with them. We have an amazing doc with them. They have things in development on the TV and film side.”

That was not anonymous palace gossip. That was the executive in charge of Netflix’s content strategy, speaking on the record. And now Deadline, an industry trade that does not traffic in royal clickbait, has confirmed another feature film in development. So where are all those “Netflix has dropped them” sources now? The ones who pop up every few months in the Daily Mail and the Sun, always unnamed, always “close to the situation,” always predicting imminent collapse?

It is almost as if the tabloids need the Sussexes to fail so badly that they keep writing obituaries for a production company that is, by all available evidence, still functioning.

The real villain is the media ecosystem that keeps writing obituaries

This Deadline exclusive exposes a pattern that should embarrass anyone who has been confidently declaring Archewell dead.

The royal and entertainment media ecosystem, the same one that runs anonymous quotes about Netflix being “frustrated,” the same one that frames every Sussex project as desperate or failing, has a vested interest in the “Netflix is done with them” narrative. It generates clicks.

It fits the broader story of a post-royal couple struggling to find their footing. And it allows commentators to ignore the actual evidence: trades reporting actual projects, Netflix executives speaking on the record, and a production slate that keeps expanding, even if slowly. Deadline got the exclusive. The tabloids create the fanfiction. Which one actually reported something verifiable?