Unfortunately, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s new Netflix Polo series has already been declared a dud, making their chances of a deal renewal seem bleak.

As part of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s lucrative Netflix deal, the new documentary POLO hit Netflix on December 8. Despite the royal family’s long history with the sport, the OTT title takes a new direction by featuring the Duke of Sussex exclusively lead the “behind-the-scenes look at the fast-paced and glamorous world of Polo.” Those familiar with Prince Harry and Prince William’s olden polo connect would especially feel the the Prince of Wales-shaped void. Royal experts are not mincing their words sharing their two cents on the matter.

Royal experts dismayed by Prince William’s omission in a Polo documentary

Andrew Pierce on GB News was vehemently against William’s erasure from the docuseries. “There’s a big gap in this because of course, polo is the favourite sport of Prince William and he isn’t appearing in the documentary because he’s not speaking to his brother,” he said. Delving deeper into the British royalty’s history with the sport, he added, “ mean, you can’t do a polo documentary, frankly about Prince Harry if you don’t include the British royal family in it because they’ve been playing polo for decades.”

Similarly, Sarah Louise Robertson underlined that the future king’s absence in the Netflix title almost felt like “Harry’s just erased how he got into the game in this.”

With the focus more on his US-driven approach to playing polo and “when he plays for the charity over in Africa,” Louise Roberts argued, “It’s like he’s just eliminated that history.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Netflix deal in danger

In a separate outlet report, brand expert Nick Ede dissected the Sussexes’ new narrative control over the Netflix project, suggesting that it may as well be the ultimate deciding factor that drags their parade down for worse.

With Williams’ pronounced absence being felt more than anything, it’s not like the Sussex couple themselves take over the five-part series’ entire runtime. Even their screen time is heavily subdued, with the spotlight on players like Nacho Figueras and Adolfo Cambiaso. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are more active in their roles as executive producers.

It’s only been a few days since the documentary premiered, but the early reactions speak volumes, with many already branding it “boring.” Ede dug further into these concerns in an interaction with the Daily Mail. “The new polo documentary hasn’t received good reviews, and this is another foray into producing from Meghan and Harry,” he pointed out. Although he still feels that some people may get pulled towards the series due to the duo’s involvement in the project, he added, “With very little airtime, we don’t get to see the pair much and also hardly any PR around the series, this looks like it’s Oh No! Rather than Polo!”

A lot depending on Meghan Markle’s cooking show and other Sussex releases

With Polo’s success story off to a miserable start, all eyes are already peeled for Meghan Markle’s upcoming food show. A lot is hanging in the balance for the couple “with a couple of unscripted things” that have been teased to be in the works with Harry and Meghan at the helm.

Chief content officer Bela Bajaria unveiled in February that the pair’s five-year deal with the streaming giant was on its way to rolling out a film and series. With one project out of the way, these next few ventures will ultimately decide their Netflix future. Their current deal expires next year.