As cynical as I can be about pretty much every legacy sequel made in the modern Hollywood system, a system more and more reliant on delivering such films in ways that result in diminishing returns far more often than not, I’m always willing and hoping to be proved wrong. For every 28 Years Later or Final Destination Bloodlines, though, there are a dozen Star Wars, superhero, and action reboots that riff off prior material to such dire results.
Which brings us to The Devil Wears Prada 2, a film that lives in some part in the same vein as a lot of those movies. A sequel to one of the most beloved pictures of the late 2000s and a contemporary fashion piece that serves as a time capsule not only to fashion journalism circa 2006, but to a collection of A-listers at various points of each of their own mountainous careers. Meryl Streep as the snarly, terrifying, and often quite smug Miranda Priestly. Her two assistants who are too scared to stand up to her, and also too scared to quit: Emily Blunt as her self-titled first assistant, and Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs, a newbie to NYC, blindly aspiring to a journalism career that Emily finds more cute than serious. As well as Runway’s fashion director Nigel, played with effortless warmth by Stanley Tucci. Just an incredible amount of aura between the cast, a real who’s who of some of my favorite people in the industry. And as I was weary the prospect of this sequel originally, in retrospect, I realize I don’t quite know why I was so worried in the first place. The original is a movie I like, but don’t have any real personal connection to where a bad sequel would ruin my month. And a sequel to the first film never felt like a necessary continuation anyway.
With all of that table setting, I’m happy to report that I was so wrong in my hesitation. The Devil Wears Prada 2 is, to put it in its most basic terms, just a fantastic time. A movie with a bit more thematic heft than the original, but with enough convincing fun and heartfelt performances that you could put aside any of that weight on a rewatch if you’d just prefer to hang out with Hathaway, Streep, Blunt, and Tucci for two hours in marvel in that same sort of charm and comfort that makes the first so rewatchable.
The film takes place in the present, nearly twenty years after the events of the first, and finds Runway magazine at a fork in the road. A mixture of internal reckoning with the struggling state of journalism combined with a hit piece exposing the not-so-great work environment that Miranda Priestly subjects her editorial team to, which we witness firsthand in the first film, puts both Runway and its editor-in-chief in the crosshairs of their parent company’s tech-bro heir Jay (B.J. Novak), as well as rival brands and past employees. Blunt’s Emily is now a senior exec at Dior, which positions her as an unexpected antagonist in the film’s final third when a plan to save Runway by brokering a buyout through Emily’s boyfriend Benji (Justin Theroux) puts everyone’s interests in direct conflict.
Director David Frankel and screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna, both returning from the original, keep the film spry and light on its feet, committing a few incredibly effective moments to each character. Nigel, after being turned away from a deserved promotion at the end of the first film, finally gets his moment to shine in the third act that lands like a truck of bricks, even if they did cut away from a speech way too early just as I felt myself nearly levitating out of my theater seat. Andy is given a new love interest – a very Australian apartment renovator. Emily has worked her way up the corporate ladder past the assistant position she had originally. Even Miranda is given a storyline of professional growth as she’s in line for a promotion to global head of content at Runway’s parent company.
And there is a lot to chew on in the film’s examination of the journalism industry, and why dedicated, talented editorial teams still matter in a world where readers still connect with the thoughts and opinions of writers more than any algorithm can replicate.
The film is also glamorous as hell. On-location shooting throughout New York City and Milan avoids the flatness of sound stages, greenscreens, and CGI, and you get the overall sense that a lot of care was put into every scene and every interaction. Lady Gaga shows up for a gala sequence that is exactly as fun as it sounds, and Theodore Shapiro’s score keeps the whole thing moving with the right amount of propulsion. As sappy as it sounds, the film really plays all the hits and caters to the fans, but not in a way that feels like the creative team is solely pandering to the audience.
If I had any nitpicks, it’s a plotline or two doesn’t quite hold together and a character or two the film just didn’t fully know what to do with. Blunt has the most confusing role of the leads. Emily turns into an impromptu antagonist for about twenty or thirty minutes in the last third, seemingly by virtue of the film needing a more pointed plotline to set up the final scenes. She isn’t bad in the film at all, but it feels like Frankel and McKenna struggled most with how to incorporate her character into this story. And Novak as Jay, Elias-Clarke’s heir who wants to usher in sweeping cuts to Runway’s staff, is a role you’d think he’d fit more seamlessly into given his previous acting credits, but his performance feels the most flimsy of the major players.
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But even with those small quibbles, The Devil Wears Prada 2 is an absolute win. Two thumbs up. Currently one of my favorite theater experiences of 2026 and just an excellent star vehicle in general. Hathaway once again acts as the perfect cipher into this world, but she’s not presented as the unfashionable newbie this time around, an element of the first film that never felt entirely believable because, well, she’s Anne Hathaway. This cuts right to the chase and clicks on all cylinders from the jump.
Score: 8/10
The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026)
- Cast: Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Justin Theroux, Kenneth Branagh, Simone Ashley, Lucy Liu, Tibor Feldman, B.J. Novak, Patrick Brammall
- Director: David Frankel
- Genre: Comedy, Drama
- Runtime: 119 minutes
- Rated: PG-13
- Release Date: May 1, 2026
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