Meghan Markle's animated series 'Pearl' ditched by Netflix before it even began

Meghan Markle's animated series Pearl has gotten the heave-ho from streaming giant Netflix, before it even premiered on the platform. The news comes as a huge blow and joins legions of productions being axed as Netflix cracks down on spending.

• Meghan Markle's animated series Pearl was exec produced with Elton John's husband David Furnish.
• The series was to be made as a part of Archewell Productions' deal with Netflix, thought to be worth more than $100 million.
• In other royal news, Queen to be portrayed by Singaporean dance student in Platinum Jubilee pageant to reflect 'makeup of Britain and London today'

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their first Netflix series only a year ago, and it was to be the first of many in their huge deal. The deal in question saw them sign up to a multi-year deal, committing to creating TV series, features, documentaries, docuseries, and children's entertainment.

Deadline reports that Pearl, which was exec produced with David Furnish, tells the story of a young girl who finds inspiration from different influential women throughout history.

After it was announced, Meghan said, “Like many girls her age, our heroine Pearl is on a journey of self-discovery as she tries to overcome life’s daily challenges. 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."

The news is likely to be a blow to the royal couple, only days after royal author Tina Brown claimed that Harry and Meghan ‘completely underestimated’ life outside of the Royal Family.

Despite this news being, without doubt, hard to swallow—the fact is that many other productions were also canceled. In fact, cancellations are a pretty normal part of the TV industry and even the most successful production companies face them from time to time.