The duo of actors who will have the honor of interpreting Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s fictional doppelgängers has been revealed.
Murray Fraser, a relative newcomer, and Parisa Fitz-Henley, best known for her role as Reva Connors in Jessica Jones back in 2015, will play the iconic couple in the upcoming Lifetime movie based on Harry and Meghan’s romance, E! reported.
Production is due to begin later this week in Los Angeles and in Vancouver, with Lifetime looking to release the movie in the spring.
Fictional double: Murray Fraser (left) will play Prince Harry (right) in the upcoming Lifetime movie based on the royal’s romance with Meghan Markle
Princess: Parisa Fitz-Henley (left), best known for her role as Reva Connors in Jessica Jones back in 2015, will play Meghan (right)
The real-life Harry and Meghan, meanwhile, will tie the knot on May 19.
Parisa, 40, a Jamaica native, said on Instagram she is ‘psyched’ to finally be able to reveal she has been cast along with Murray in the highly anticipated movie, and noted she was ‘so happy’ to be working with him.
The actress, who has also starred in Luke Cage and in NBC’s Midnight, Texas, will be tasked with playing the Suits actress, now 36, from the moment she met Harry to the later stages of their relationship.
This isn’t the second time Murray has played in a royal-related work of fiction, since his acting credits also include PBS’ Victoria, starring Jenna Coleman as the eponymous queen.
The actor has also starred in The Loch, a mini series and serial killer mystery that aired last year.
Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance follows in the footsteps of Lifetime’s William & Kate: The Movie, the network’s 2011 rendition of Harry’s older brother William’s relationship with his now-wife, Kate Middleton.
In that instance, Camilla Luddington, who plays Jo Wilson in Grey’s Anatomy, was cast as the duchess, while William was portrayed by Nico Evers-Swindell.
Lifetime revealed last month it was working on a movie based on the lives of Meghan and Harry, 35.
The news was confirmed by head of programming Liz Gateley during a conference, Deadline reported at the time.
Lifetime’s film will portray the lives of both the Prince and the Suits actress ahead of their meeting, before detailing their meeting via a mutual friend.
It will then follow the story of their secret romance, before the couple went public at the end of 2016, and subsequently announced their engagement in November 2017, garnering intense media attention.
Director Menhaj Huda, who has worked on The Royals, a drama about a fictional British royal family, will work on the movie, while Merideth Finn and Michele Weiss will executive produce.
While no release date has been confirmed, the channel’s previous film William & Kate: The Movie aired 11 days before the pair’s wedding on the 29th April 2011.
Prince Harry and Meghan met in the summer of 2016 after being set up on a blind date by a mutual friend, thought to be fashion designer Misha Nonoo.
In November 2016 Harry confirmed their romance after he released a statement asking for his girlfriend’s privacy to be respected, revealing she had been subject to a torrent of abuse amid rumors of their romance.
Just weeks later the Prince visited the American actress on set of Toronto-based legal drama Suits, before the couple were first sighted together in London during December 2016.
The duo then made a number of low key appearances together in 2017, and announced their engagement in November 2017, spending Christmas together with the Queen at Sandringham.
The couple is now set to marry on May 19 this year at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in England.
The news of Lifetime TV’s new film came after it was reported that Meghan’s ex-husband and film producer Trevor Engelson is making a show about a divorced American mother who moves to London to marry a British royal.
The show, which is currently untitled, is believed to have been inspired by a conversation he had with producer Dan Farrah, musing on what would have happened if he and Meghan had had children together.