The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026)
Miranda Priestly Is Back — and the Fashion World Has Never Been Messier
TLDR: The Devil Wears Prada 2 is the long-awaited sequel to the 2006 classic, reuniting Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci with the original director and screenwriter. Set two decades later, the film tackles AI, print media’s death, sweatshop scandals, and clickbait culture — all dressed in couture. It holds a 78% on Rotten Tomatoes, premiered at Lincoln Center in New York on April 20, 2026, and released in US cinemas on May 1, 2026. It is not quite the original. But Meryl Streep is still ice-cold perfection, and that alone is worth the ticket.
Twenty years is a long time to wait for a sequel.
The original The Devil Wears Prada (2006) is one of those rare films that gets better with every rewatch. Miranda Priestly became one of cinema’s all-time great characters. Andy Sachs became the relatable entry point into a world of impossible glamour. The whole film just worked — perfectly cast, perfectly written, perfectly directed.
So when news of a sequel broke in 2024, my reaction was the same as everyone else’s. Half excitement. Half dread. Because sequels to perfect things rarely end well.
Having now watched The Devil Wears Prada 2, I can tell you the good news is that it is significantly better than its early marketing suggested. And the even better news is that Meryl Streep is still completely, devastatingly, untouchably brilliant as Miranda Priestly.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 — Movie Details
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Title | The Devil Wears Prada 2 |
| Release Date | April 20, 2026 (Premiere); May 1, 2026 (US) |
| Director | David Frankel |
| Written by | Aline Brosh McKenna |
| Based on | Characters by Lauren Weisberger |
| Produced by | Wendy Finerman |
| Production | Wendy Finerman Productions |
| Distributor | 20th Century Studios |
| Cinematography | Florian Ballhaus |
| Music | Theodore Shapiro |
| Runtime | 119 minutes |
| Budget | $100 million |
| Format | Theatrical |
The entire original creative team came back. David Frankel directed. Aline Brosh McKenna — who wrote the first film’s screenplay — returned to write the sequel. Wendy Finerman produced again. This is not a cash-grab handled by strangers. Everyone who built this world came back to tend to it.
What Is the Film About?
Two decades have passed since Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) walked away from Runway magazine and Miranda Priestly.
Andy is now a respected journalist in New York. Her entire newsroom is laid off — by text message, during an awards gala. That detail alone tells you everything about the state of modern media and the film’s satirical instincts.
Through a series of events involving a sweatshop scandal at Runway, Andy ends up back in Miranda’s orbit — hired against Miranda’s wishes as the magazine’s new Features Editor.
Meanwhile, the world has changed around Miranda in ways she cannot control. Print is dying. Nobody reads Runway anymore. HR complaints have blunted her legendary imperiousness. To keep the lights on, the once-perfectionist queen of fashion is being forced to produce clickbait headlines and cheap short-form videos. Miranda Priestly — making TikToks. The horror.
Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt), Miranda’s former first assistant, has climbed her way to a senior position at Dior. She is powerful now. She is also Emily, which means she is still brilliantly, catastrophically extra about everything.
The plot weaves in a Silicon Valley tech billionaire, a Milan Fashion Week finale, Lady Gaga performing at a gala, and a battle for the soul of Runway — and by extension, the soul of fashion journalism itself.
Full Cast Breakdown
| Actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Meryl Streep | Miranda Priestly — editor of Runway, still terrifying |
| Anne Hathaway | Andrea “Andy” Sachs — journalist turned Features Editor |
| Emily Blunt | Emily Charlton — Miranda’s former first assistant, now at Dior |
| Stanley Tucci | Nigel Kipling — Miranda’s loyal right hand |
| Justin Theroux | Benji Barnes — Silicon Valley billionaire and Emily’s boyfriend |
| Kenneth Branagh | Stuart — Miranda’s new husband |
| Lucy Liu | Sasha Barnes — Benji’s wealthy ex-wife |
| Simone Ashley | Amari Mari — Miranda’s current first assistant |
| B. J. Novak | Jay Ravitz — the new boss after Irv dies |
| Tracie Thoms | Lily — Andy’s friend (returning from the original) |
| Patrick Brammall | Peter — Andy’s new love interest |
| Pauline Chalamet | New supporting role |
| Rachel Bloom | Tessa — Andy’s friend |
| Lady Gaga | Herself (Milan Fashion Week gala) |
| Donatella Versace | Herself (cameo) |
Sydney Sweeney was also spotted filming scenes with Emily Blunt during production in August 2025 — but her cameo was cut from the final film before release.
The Original Team Is Back — And It Matters
The fact that David Frankel, Aline Brosh McKenna, and Wendy Finerman all returned is not a small thing.
It means the sequel was not handed to people who simply wanted to exploit the brand. It was made by people who understood why the original worked and what made it special.
McKenna’s script is smart about one key thing: it does not try to recreate the first film’s dynamic. It updates it. Andy and Miranda are no longer boss and assistant. They are reluctant collaborators with a complicated history. That shift changes the entire power dynamic — and the film is much better for it.
The setting has shifted too. The first film was about the seduction of ambition. This one is about what happens when the institutions built on that ambition start to crumble. Fashion media, print journalism, the idea that taste and craft matter in a world drowning in clickbait — all of it is under threat. Miranda’s struggle is not just personal. It is existential.
That is genuinely interesting territory.
Meryl Streep — Still Untouchable
I need to be clear about something. Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly is one of the greatest performances in the history of American cinema. Not great-for-a-comedy-sequel. Great, full stop.
In this film, she is given something the first film rarely offered — vulnerability. Miranda is not winning. She is losing. Slowly, painfully, to a world that has moved on without asking her permission. And watching Meryl Streep play a woman who is fighting not to become irrelevant is both funnier and more moving than I expected.
There is one scene — I will not spoil it — where Miranda is forced to fly economy class. The way Streep holds herself in that moment, the barely-contained fury and the quiet humiliation, says more in fifteen seconds than most actors could say in an entire monologue.
The New Yorker’s critic wrote that the film sells preposterous goods awfully well, with unfeigned assurance and conviction. Meryl Streep is the reason that sentence is true.
Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt
Both are excellent. Both are given more to do than in the original, and both deliver.
Hathaway’s Andy is warmer and more confident than the uncertain girl we met in 2006. She has earned her place in journalism and she knows it. The chemistry between Hathaway and Streep — that specific push-pull of professional admiration, old wounds, and grudging mutual respect — is still completely alive.
Emily Blunt’s Emily Charlton is the film’s secret weapon. She has become what she always wanted to be — powerful, beautifully dressed, at the top of the fashion world. And she is still hilarious. The scenes between Blunt and Hathaway crackle with the same competitive energy the original established, now updated for two adults who have both made something of themselves.
The Atlantic wrote that the film has plenty of breezy fun probing the dilemmas of modern media without abandoning the glitz that made the original so enduring. That is the balance Hathaway and Blunt help maintain.
The Music — Lady Gaga and Doechii’s “Runway”
The second trailer for the film featured a preview of “Runway” — a new original song performed by Lady Gaga and Doechii that was released as a single on April 9, 2026.
It is a house pop track — pulsing, fashionable, slightly euphoric — that fits the film’s world perfectly. The fact that Lady Gaga, who also appears in the film itself at the Milan Fashion Week gala, contributed an original song gives the sequel a cultural credibility that most nostalgia sequels do not manage.
The song alone generated significant buzz and gave the film a sonic identity that felt genuinely contemporary rather than borrowed from the past.
The Controversy You Should Know About
Before you watch this film, there is something important to mention.
A promotional clip released in April 2026 introduced Andy’s new assistant, Jin Chao — played by Chinese-American actress Helen J. Shen. The character’s name, initially misreported online as “Chin Chou,” sparked immediate backlash across social media, particularly in China, South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong.
Critics pointed out that the name bore phonetic resemblance to a racial slur. Additionally, the character was written wearing dowdy clothes and glasses, shown reciting academic achievements — all features that observers argued reinforced outdated stereotypes about Asian people.
The Hollywood Reporter and The Guardian both covered the backlash extensively. Calls to boycott the film spread across Chinese social media platforms.
The filmmakers have not issued a detailed public response to the controversy. It is a significant issue that hangs over the film’s Asian release and is worth being aware of before watching.
What the Critics Said
The Devil Wears Prada 2 currently holds a 78% score on Rotten Tomatoes from 162 critics. The consensus describes it as sinfully enjoyable, dressed to the nines in off-the-rack wish fulfillment with some trenchant observations about modern media. Metacritic sits at 62 out of 100.
The Independent called it so much better than its terrible marketing and praised the way the film hits home on job insecurity and the precarity of media careers. The Boston Globe noted that giving Miranda more depth softens her slightly, but smartly gives the audience bigger villains to root against.
The more critical reviews came from The Seattle Times, which called it flat Champagne, and The Mercury News, which said it felt like it came off the rack before it was ready — groundbreaking as florals in spring.
You can read the full critical breakdown on the Rotten Tomatoes page for The Devil Wears Prada 2.
The Trailer That Broke the Internet
Before a single frame of the actual film was widely seen, the trailers for this sequel were already making history.
The first teaser trailer, released on November 12, 2025, was reportedly the most-viewed comedy trailer in 15 years — racking up 181.5 million views in its first 24 hours alone. The full trailer, released February 1, 2026, recorded 222 million views in its first 24 hours — the most-viewed trailer in 20th Century Studios’ history.
The trailers also sparked a viral debate about the film’s flat, washed-out visual style — with many viewers criticising the color grading for embodying the so-called “Netflix look” — flattened contrast, drained colours, low visual dynamism. Whether the final film looks better or worse than the trailers is something you can judge for yourself.
Where to Watch
The Devil Wears Prada 2 is currently in cinemas in the US after its May 1, 2026 release. Given its 20th Century Studios/Disney distribution, it will eventually stream on Disney+ or Hulu depending on your region.
For more Hollywood film reviews, streaming guides, and complete coverage of what is new and worth watching across every major platform, head over to HDMovies4U. We cover everything so your movie nights are never wasted.
My Final Verdict
The Devil Wears Prada 2 is a good film. Not a great one. Not the equal of the original. But a smart, well-made, properly entertaining sequel that respects its source material while finding genuinely interesting new things to say about it.
Meryl Streep is extraordinary. The supporting cast — particularly Emily Blunt — is sharp and committed. The satirical observations about AI, clickbait, and the death of print media are more relevant than any fashion film probably has a right to be. And the Milan Fashion Week finale, with Lady Gaga performing and couture everywhere you look, delivers the pure glossy pleasure the original fans have been waiting for.
The controversy around the Jin Chao character is a real issue and should not be minimised. Beyond that, the film could have been tighter — some subplots feel half-finished — and it never quite recaptures the original’s specific magic.
But when Meryl Streep locks eyes with someone and delivers a line in that perfectly modulated, impossibly quiet voice? Nothing else in cinema feels quite like it. And this film has a lot of those moments.
My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars. More than good enough. Less than it could have been. Worth every minute of Meryl Streep.
Check the full cast and production information on the IMDB page for The Devil Wears Prada 2.
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