Amazon is holding "crisis talks" over their new Prince Andrew series, royal insiders have claimed.
The historical drama, titled A Very Royal Scandal, will reenact the Duke of York's 2019 Newsnight interview, following the success of Netflix's Scoop.
The release of Amazon's three-part series is scheduled for October, six months after Netflix dropped their film starring Gillian Anderson as Emily Maitlis and Rufus Sewell as Prince Andrew.
The story of Maitlis's career and personal journey will be told in the Amazon version, which takes place before her BBC interview with Prince Andrew, who Michael Sheen will play.
A new Amazon Prime series about Prince Andrew is set to drop
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It has been claimed that Amazon executives are scrambling to come up with ways to publicise A Very Royal Scandal, because they worry the story will have become uninteresting by October.
An insider told The Sun: "Amazon’s in crisis talks.
"They spent a lot of money and are really worried that when it comes out, the public will think: 'We’ve watched this,' and it’ll flop."
One idea bosses are said to have come up with is to ask Maitlis to grill actress Ruth Wilson who plays her in the mini-series.
Emily Maitlis has since left Newsnight and the BBCPAThe insider added: "Getting Scoop out first was the best thing.
"Amazon feels like it’s already lost the battle with Netflix."
It comes after Maitlis spoke about Netflix's dramatisation of her infamous Prince Andrew interview.
The journalist said she "left them very much to do their own thing".
Michael Sheen is playing Prince Andrew in the new series
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Ruth Wilson is playing Emily Maitlis in the new series
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The Netflix film Scoop was an adaptation of a book by Sam McAlister, the producer who sealed the interview.
Matilis told Deadline that she believed Scoop to be "based on a fictional account, so I think it goes into different places and it does different things" to the Amazon series.
The disclaimer used by Netflix for Scoop says: "This film is based on real events - however certain elements have been fictionalised for dramatic purposes."
