The 'Becoming Royal' Sequel Will Have 2 New Actors Playing Meghan & Harry
It was a romance out of a storybook. Smalltime American cable actress weds Britain's most eligible royal bachelor. Yet, here it was, with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry of Windsor announcing their engagement at the end of 2017 and a spring wedding set for the next year. Romance writers were only mad they hadn't thought of it first, and cable's premium romance channel, Lifetime, wasn't about to let anything stop them from turning into a movie. Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance was a huge hit. Now the network has greenlit a Becoming Royal sequel, but there's just one small catch.
Lifetime didn't think to sign Murray Fraser and Parisa Fitz-Henley, the original Harry and Meghan stand-ins, for a sequel. However, it turns out that the producers weren't too worried about it. When the network announced at the Television Critics Association press tour earlier this month it was going ahead with the second installment, the producers revealed the parts would be recast, due to "availability issues."
That was all of 10 days ago. Lifetime must have either been moving fast or already in the casting process. This week the lucky heirs to the (TV) throne were announced. According to Deadline, Tiffany Marie Smith (best known for her work on Supernatural) and Charlie Field (recently of National Geographic's anthology series Genius) will play the royal couple.
In the Meghan category, the casting has improved. Not that Fitz-Henley was terrible in the role, but she doesn't look much like Meghan, as one can see in the above set of pictures. The middle image is Fitz-Henley from the first Harry & Meghan film, while the left is the real-deal Meghan. Smith, on the other hand, on the far right, has much more of the facial structure to pull off Markle's look. A small bit of makeup should be able to get the sequel a far better Meghan stand-in.
Meanwhile, the Harry situation probably hasn't improved one way or the other. The last thing I saw Field in was PBS' Poldark. In both that role and his turn in Genius, he was clean-shaven. So it's hard to judge how the Prince Harry Signature Facial Hair™ will play out on his face. Feel free to decide for yourself. Field is the far right below. Fraser as Harry in the original film (sporting Prince Harry Signature Facial Hair™) in the middle, and of course, the real-deal Harry is on the left.
The original Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance covered the period before the wedding, from just before the two of them were set up on their first date to the engagement announcement. In the Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal sequel, the story will pick up after the nuptials. According to Lifetime's synopsis:
Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal continues the love story of newlyweds Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle, pulling back the curtain to reveal the untold joys and challenges of life inside the Royal Family during their pivotal first year of marriage. Beyond blending their families and cultures, Harry and Meghan’s core values are put to the test as they try to find the balance between hon
Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal is expected to premiere on Lifetime later this spring.
