Meghan Markle is best known for her previous role as paralegal Rachel Zane on the US legal drama series Suits. The former actor has starred on the show since 2011 but officially retired after the seventh season. While there was initial speculation that her marriage to Prince Harry might have been the reason for her departure, Suits creator Aaron Korsh later revealed that Markle was actually axed from the series long before that.
“I kind of had to make a decision because I didn’t want to interrupt and ask her, ‘Hey, what’s going on? What will you do?’ So… the writers together decided to take a chance that these two people are in love and it will work out,” he said in an interview with Radio 4’s Today. “We decided to say as the season progressed: ‘Look, I’d rather do good things with Meghan in her life’ – which would probably mean her leaving the show. So let’s plan for that and it’s a lot easier to undo when it counts than just plan for her to stay forever and then find out she’s going to go.
In the new Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan, Markle’s friend and Suits producer Silver Tree reflected on her time on set, saying of Markle, “She would just bring this ease. And for a director she is such an easy actress as she is always natural but absolutely trusting. She didn’t think much about it, she just did it. And I think it put a lot of people at ease.”
Rachel Zane may be gone forever, but she will never be forgotten.