Long-awaited sequels seems to be the norm nowadays in Hollywood! In an era where it’s getting increasingly difficult to get audiences to see an non-IP film in theaters that does NOT star Ryan Gosling and a space rock, studios have had no choice but to dig through their ancient archives to see what beloved classic or cult following flick they can make a follow-up to in some way, shape, or form. While there’s always a Top Gun: Maverick-level exception, most of these sequels failed to answer the one question that should be made when one of these follow-ups are pitched to the studios. Does this sequel justify it’s existence? In the case of The Devil Wears Prada 2, I’m gonna have to go with a very shoulder shrugging no.
Sure, it’s as handsomely well-made as the original film from 20 years ago and it’s nice to see the returning cast and a couple of new faces showing off their fashion styles. However, when looking at it as an individual whole, The Devil Wears Prada 2 has as much depth and a “getting the gang back together” vibe as a basic Zoom call. If you had just did a Zoom call back in 2020 during the lockout with Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, and Emily Blunt all together, having a virtual drinking party, you would likely get more out of that than you would watching The Devil Wears Prada 2.
Premise: The Devil Wears Prada 2 follows a veteran Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) navigating the decline of traditional print media. She faces off against her former assistant, Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt), now a high-powered luxury executive controlling vital advertising dollars. Andy Sachs (Ann Hathaway) reunites with Miranda to handle a Scandal, set against a fashion-focused backdrop
As it the case with most of these long-awaited follow-ups/legacy sequels, The Devil Wears Prada 2 is all about how the world has changed for the worse for our main characters since we last saw them and how they need to learn how to adapt to current times before they get too stuck in the past. In this case, it’s about traditional journalism being severely downgraded, the sharp decline of the physical and print media business, massive layoffs happening in drones no matter where you go, and how the people are the very top gain more and more profit while the rest of us suffer. Or that it was the film THINKS it’s about…..until it doesn’t.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 isn’t so much interested in exploring the struggles of modern journalism than it is using it as a footnote to justify the sequel taking place in modern times. We hear about how much the business is being shrunk to death and downsized and how it is hurting everyone around Andy but not really Andy herself. Whenever the film begins to lose sighting of that core issue it’s claiming to address, it just introduces a few more scenes of other characters reacting to their firings and throws in a couple more soulless billionaires that is running the journalism industry into the ground to save it’s own face.
It adds more insult to injury with Andy constantly snuffing at the state of modern journalism but the film itself never takes a stand for preserving journalism to the way it was back in 2006 than it is in 2026. It never justifies why the traditional media outlets of the past should be preserved for the future or evolve in ways that it can still keep the heart and soul of it intact. Like, yes, the journalism and entertainment business is hard right now! What else do you got, movie?!
The film also repeats the traditional sin of long-awaited sequels by bringing Andy back to square one of her character growth from the original just for the sake of getting her back together with Miranda, Emily, and Nigel. Yes, Andy still wants Miranda’s approval (even though she already got it in the last movie). Yes, Miranda refuses to give it to her (even though she already did at the end of the last movie). Yes, Emily is still an ice queen but with a different job. Yes, Nigel still acts like the tough-father figure to Andy and gives her the same lessons to learn that she already did in the last movie. It’s all about hitting the same beats from two decades before, trying to give you the illusion that it’s actually rhyming intentional parallels to the original and not flat out copying it.
Even the extended cameos and notable celebrity appearances are quite half-baked this time around. I won’t go into too much spoilers but it’s bizarre of the film’s handling of the famous people they actually got to appear and those that are just mentioned by name. (There’s LITERALLY a scene where a character claims to see Hugh Jackman in attendance and goes over to talk to him but we never actually cut to him!) There’s a couple of nice mentions and notices but none of them feel all that inspired, feeling like they are only there because they got an extra day-off and not because they got a point or an amusing joke to make. I get it’s 2026 and celebrity cameos/appearances aren’t too special anymore because of how much they’re all everywhere but if there’s ANY film that should be able to make it work, it’s a Devil Wears Prada film.
This is not all to say that The Devil Wears Prada 2 is an absolute failure overall. It’s got plenty of eye-popping shots (most notably of Italy), a decent pace throughout, some hidden laughs along the way, and my god, have the four main leads not aged a SINGLE day despite it being 20 years later (Seriously, it’s not just Anne Hathaway that’s a chameleon! The ENTIRE original cast is!). Even Kenneth Branagh has a nice presence here, just playing a decent, respectful man who is a committed and faithful partner to his wife. You don’t get that very often in this day and age.
I’m not the biggest champion of the original Devil Wears Prada but at least that had a consistent point to make. It was able to use all of it’s beautiful aesthetics, colorful imagery, and a superbly talented cast to make a point about the fashion industry deserving more respect from top to bottom. It was able to perfectly match it’s style with it’s substance and NOT needing to sacrifice one or the other. The Devil Wears Prada 2 just kinda meanders throughout the majority of it’s runtime, hoping that the return of the wonderful OG cast and pretty visuals will be able to push through any meaningful commentary that just feels like it was thrown in at the last minute to meet with the current times. It might make for a fun night out but as the original movie states, the industry deserves so much better than that.
For all the redeemable qualities The Devil Wears Prada 2 might have, it still left me asking the same question I had when the sequel was first announced. Why does it need to exist? The fact that I don’t have a straight answer for you other than dollar signs proves that the movie fails to meet it’s own standards set by it’s own foundations.
At least theater owners will be happy!
Adam's Blog 