Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are developing a feature film adaptation of No Way Out: The Searing True Story of Men Under Siege for Netflix, bringing to screen a war story about a British unit sent into one of the fiercest parts of Afghanistan. The project is one of several film and television developments tied to the couple’s Archewell deal with the streaming company.
The book, written by Major Adam Jowett and published by Pan Macmillan in 2019, tells the story of Easy Company, a unit of Paras and Royal Irish rangers that was tasked with holding a district in Helmand province in July 2006. Matt Charman is writing the adaptation, while Prince Harry, Meghan and Tracy Ryerson will produce for Archewell.
The film has an added layer of attention because Harry was deployed twice on active service in Afghanistan, including in Helmand Province. That history makes this adaptation more than just another literary pickup for Netflix, and it places the project alongside a broader slate that already includes The Wedding Date, an adaptation of Carley Fortune’s Meet Me At the Lake and a polo-themed drama written by Francisca X. Hu for television.
Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria said earlier this year that the company still had a relationship with Harry and Meghan and had movies in development with them, adding that deals come and go and that there was “no juicy story there.” The company’s continued work with the couple suggests the partnership is still active even as attention around their projects rises and falls with each new title.
What gives No Way Out its pull is the scale and pressure of the story itself. The book has been described as being in the vein of Black Hawk Down and The Bridge on the River Kwai, and the central ordeal of Easy Company’s 21 days and nights in Helmand gives the adaptation a built-in sense of confinement, danger and attrition. For Harry and Meghan, the answer to whether their Netflix slate is still moving is yes: the deal remains alive, and this Afghan war drama is now part of it.
