Written by Carrie Bergan

It’s been twenty years since The Devil Wears Prada was released, featuring the iconic Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, and Emily Blunt. It was in July 2024 when the sequel was approved, and filming took place in the fall of 2025. The official release date was May 1, 2026. Like most fans of the first movie, we were worried that some of the most memorable moments and characters would be changed too much for our liking. Genuinely speaking, I do not always enjoy sequels because more often than not, they do not meet what I was hoping for. I avoid watching trailers when possible because sometimes they overexcite me and then the actual final movie doesn’t line up with the energy I got from the preview. The Devil Wears Prada 2 was just enough. 

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD, PROCEED WITH CAUTION

Similar to us having waited twenty years for this movie in the making, the characters in the film also have aged. The movie does not start immediately with the original characters all together. Anne Hathaway reprises her role as journalist Andrea "Andy" Sachs, and at the end of The Devil Wears Prada, we know that Andy Sachs left Runway for another job. It is after a turn of events at an awards ceremony when she loses her job. Due to a (very lucky) turn of events, she is called when Miranda Priestly (Streep) is struggling to maintain the image of Runway magazine after a scandal about working with a sweatshop was published. Even though they left off on an amicable note, Priestly does not remember Sachs and has decided that she has no note of importance for Runway making things difficult. To make matters more difficult, Priestly’s former assistant, Emily Charlton (Blunt) has become the executive director of Dior, the magazine's most important brand advertiser whose relationship is the make-or-break it. Sachs is unaware of the damage that has been made between these two and looks to fix everything. However, against her knowledge, Charlton leverages that to get back at Priestly for tossing her aside and things spiral for the worse. 

The twist of making Blunt’s character the sneaky, underhanded villain was so pivotal, it really raises the question on who the true evil is in the movie. I know for the first one, there is a divide. Some say it was Sachs’s first boyfriend for being unsupportive. Others think it’s Sachss for changing overnight. The vast majority say it’s Priestly for being an overdemanding boss with expectations that only gods could fulfill. Is it character vs. character or is it a character vs. self conflict? Or is it simply that we are all human with too much focus on just our needs to really pay attention to the world around us? 

Whatever the case may be, my favorite character has always been Nigel Kipling (Tucci) who is Priestly’s right-hand man. He remains her rock through thick and thin despite her inability to acknowledge just how much he does for her. It is towards the end when Priestly and Sachs are working together to save Runway when Kipling gets the spotlight — a most deserved recognition. I think out of everyone in the movie, he is the most authentic and soft-spoken character.

The entire movie is a mix of tense, dramatic, and comedic bits that all wrap together in a giant bow. I do still believe that the first movie is pure perfection but this sequel is put together beautifully. There are moments that reflect back on the first and there’s this poetic justice of growth that is seen. There is so much to unpack from this movie that I didn’t even discuss. I will say that it is a much-needed movie of the year and I certainly hope that others enjoy watching it as much as I did. I’m not going to reveal the very end and one of the bigger plot twists of the movie because I want it to bring the same reaction as it did to me — shock, awe, and admiration. That’s all.

My Rating: 8.5/10