Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Cookie Queens is bringing its Girl Scout hustle to Paramount+.
The streamer announced on Wednesday, September 2, that the SXSW Audience Award-winning documentary will premiere January 6, 2027, as part of a new lineup of licensed nonfiction films. Directed by Alysa Nahmias and made in association with Meghan and Harry’s Archewell Productions, Cookie Queens turns the annual Girl Scout Cookie season into a surprisingly high-stakes look at ambition, competition, and growing up inside an $800 million business.
And these girls came to sell.
Filmed during the six-week 2024 cookie season, Cookie Queens follows four Girl Scouts with very different ambitions. Twelve-year-old Olive, a former nationwide top seller from Charlotte, is determined to reclaim her spot among the country’s “Cookie Queens.”
Eight-year-old Shannon Elizabeth from El Paso is aiming to sell 2,750 boxes to help cover the cost of Girl Scout camp, while 9-year-old Nikki in California hopes to raise enough money toward her troop’s European trip.
Then there’s 5-year-old Ara from San Diego, who practices Pilates to build the strength needed to pull her cookie cart as she works toward a comparatively modest goal of 55 boxes.
Meghan has said that the mix of childhood, competition, and serious business is exactly what drew her to the project. The Duchess of Sussex, a former Girl Scout whose mother served as her troop leader, joined Prince Harry as an executive producer after the film’s festival breakout.
“It’s such a brilliant portrayal of Americana and the global tradition of the Girl Scouts,” Meghan said at a July screening.
She also cautioned audiences against underestimating the premise. “I know you think it’s just going to be a cute film about cookies,” she said, before noting that its more emotional moments make it “much more resonant.”
That resonance extends beyond the competition for bragging rights. Girl Scout cookie sales help troops fund everything from camps and field trips to community projects, while giving young participants the chance to practice skills such as goal setting, money management, and decision-making.
Nahmias has likewise made it clear that the multimillion-dollar business behind those brightly colored boxes was central to her story. “Girl Scout Cookies are more than a beloved tradition,” she previously said, describing the program as a lens through which she could explore “girlhood — the ambition, resilience, humor, and vulnerability” of its young participants.
Cookie Queens has already made quite a journey before landing its Paramount+ deal. The documentary premiered at Sundance, went on to win the 2026 SXSW Festival Audience Award, and was picked up for U.S. distribution by Roadside Attractions.
Roadside co-presidents Eric d’Arbeloff and Howard Cohen previously described cookie season as an American tradition “that millions of people recognize but rarely stop to consider.”
Now, millions more will get the chance.
Cookie Queens joins The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue and Hanging By a Wire on Paramount+’s newly announced documentary slate.
