THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 (2026)

Starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Justin Theroux, Kenneth Branagh, Tracie Thoms, Tibor Feldman, Simone Ashley, Lucy Liu, Patrick Brammall, Caleb Hearon, Helen J. Shen, Pauline Chalamet, BJ Novak, Conrad Ricamora, Rachel Bloom, Donatella Versace, Lady Gaga, Ciara, Heidi Klum, Jon Batiste, Calum Harper and Ashley Graham.

Screenplay by Aline Brosh McKenna.

Directed by David Frankel.

Distributed by 20th Century Studios. 119 minutes. Rated PG-13.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 arrives with a built‑in handicap: the glamorous, cutthroat magazine world that powered the original has all but vanished. Two decades ago, the notion of glossy media empires spending millions to dictate taste was already wobbling. Now, the entire industry has been upended – and in many corners, left for dead.

To its credit, The Devil Wears Prada 2 takes this culture change on directly – mostly – and acknowledges that it has happened. Runway magazine is now mostly available online – although they do still print a limited run of hard copies. Even that, as ruefully noted by its infamous editor-in-chief Miranda Priestley (Meryl Streep), is generally thin enough to floss your teeth with.

So, is it worth it to come back to this beloved story after the world has moved on?

Mostly, yes.

Most of the main characters from the first film return for the second go around and it really is good to see them again and find out what happened to them. Also, the original screenwriter and director return, and they understand these characters and give a lot of fun fan service and call backs to the story.

However, the modern threat to serious journalism gives the second film more of a melancholy edge than the sweetly optimistic original. Particularly, the last half hour or so is a bit heavy-handed. And yet, good for them for not ignoring the elephant in the room.

Maybe it is not as much fun as the original. But it’s still fun.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 shows its strange new world from the very beginning. Twenty years on from leaving Runway behind, Andy Sachs has finally become a successful writer, a serious journalist, not just working in fashion. However, one night, literally while she was receiving an award for her reporting, she (and most of the rest of the staff of her newspaper) is fired – by text – in a corporate salary dump for taxes.

Is it a little overly coincidental that she is fired just as she was about to be called up to receive her award? Probably, but it makes the point of the perils of modern journalism succinctly. Andy goes up on the podium, announces the firings, and gives a speech about the importance of a strong, independent press, which ends up being videotaped and going viral.

This video catches the eye of the owner of Runway, who decides maybe it would help his own troubled magazine (and make great spin for the magazine, which is in trouble on its own for promoting a fashion house which turned out to be using child labor) to bring Andy back in the fold to run the editorial for the magazine.

Of course the owner never got around to telling Miranda that he was bringing her back. And it appears that after 20 years, Miranda may not even remember her former short-lived assistant. Therefore, Andy feels the need to prove herself to the legendary editor yet again, at the same time that Miranda is fearing for her own career. Andy’s relationship with Miranda starts over and yet retains the prickly but begrudging mutual respect of the original.

Most of the fan favorite characters have returned. Miranda’s long-suffering second-in-command Nigel (Stanley Tucci) slips back into Andy’s life naturally as her confidant and cynical mentor. Her old frenemy Emily (Emily Blunt) has moved on from Runway, taking a powerful job with the house of Dior and becoming a bit of a tabloid story when she gets involved with a billionaire divorcé (Justin Theroux). Andy’s old friends are around, too, including bestie Tracie Thoms.

In fact, only the men in Andy’s life (Adrian Grenier and Simon Baker) have been left behind in this film, which makes sense because Andy’s love life is obviously of secondary importance to her professional and personal growth. In fact, The Devil Wears Prada 2 half-heartedly hooks Andy up with an Australian realtor (Patrick Brammall), but the true loves of her life are her friends and her job.

And by the way, sorry, despite the fact that the billionaire divorce between Lucy Liu and Justin Theroux take up a big part of the second half, it’s undercooked and underexplored, as is the attempt of the owner’s son (BJ Novak) to sell off the magazine, which ends up feeling like a plot device.

However, you aren’t watching The Devil Wears Prada 2 for scintillating storytelling. It’s a nostalgic return to a feel-good moment in our collective history. The Devil Wears Prada 2 shows that you can’t ever totally go back home again, but sometimes it is enjoyable to revisit the old haunts.

Jay S. Jacobs

Copyright ©2026 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: May 1, 2026.