THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 (2026)

Genre: Comedy/ Drama
Director: David Frankel 
Cast: Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Tracie Thoms, Tibor Feldman, Kenneth Branagh, Simone Ashley, Justin Theroux
Runtime: 2 hr 0 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Walt Disney
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 30 April 2026

Synopsis: Almost twenty years after making their iconic turns as Miranda, Andy, Emily and Nigel—Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci return to the fashionable streets of New York City and the sleek offices of Runway Magazine in the eagerly awaited sequel to the 2006 phenomenon that defined a generation.

Movie Review:

Two decades – that’s how long it has been since we relished the guilty pleasure of ‘The Devil Wears Prada’, which in addition to Meryl Streep’s vivid and exactingly detailed portrayal of fictional fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly that was unabashedly modelled after Vogue editor Anna Wintour, gave us a peek into the glamour and couture of the world of high-end fashion.

A lot has changed in the 20 years since, and in reuniting Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci for this long-awaited sequel, it is absolutely gratifying how director David Frankel and writer Aline Brosh McKenna updates the setting and themes to be relevant to the zeitgeist, while retaining what we loved of the original to remind us of a time when it was enough of both a fairytale and cautionary tale to become comfort movie of its era.

We catch up with Andy Sachs (Hathaway) as the socially conscious investigative journalist she always wanted to be, collecting an award for her work at fictitious left-leaning paper the New York Vanguard, right before she and the rest of her colleagues are collectively fired via text. On the other hand, Miranda remains at the helm of the fictional New York magazine Runway, although her much-anticipated promotion to Global Head of Content is unexpectedly derailed by a sweatshop scandal.

At the urging of his son Jay (B.J. Novak), Runway chairman Irv Ravitz (Tibor Feldman) offers Andy a job as the magazine’s features editor, with the hope that her journalistic instincts would help rehabilitate the image of Runway among its readers and advertisers. One of the latter so happens to be Dior, where Miranda’s former first assistant Emily Charlton (Blunt) is now a senior executive at. And oh, Nigel Kipling (Tucci) remains as Runway’s art director as well as Miranda’s capable right hand. That rounds up the reunion of these four key players in the original, who will not only have to contend with one another, but also the larger commercial pressures on the publishing world as well as journalism writ large.

Among the additions in this sequel are socialite Sasha Barnes (Lucy Liu), whom Andy manages to snag an interview with after she professes to be impressed by her articles; recently divorced tech billionaire Benji Barnes (an almost unrecognisable Justin Theroux, as a Jeff Bezos type), whom Emily promptly hooks up with in order to climb the social ladder; and Stuart (Kenneth Branagh) and Andy (Patrick Brammell), the former a violinist and the latter an Australian architect who are perfectly content to be Miranda’s husband and Andy’s love interest respectively. There is a midway twist which forces Miranda and Andy to cross paths with Jay and Benji, but otherwise this sequel belongs safely in the hands of its returning quartet.

Even – and perhaps more so – after a 20-year gap, the four main performers step back into their roles with absolute ease. They are clearing enjoying themselves, and Frankel gives each of them plenty of moments to shine. Hathaway adds grit to her earlier ingenue version of Andy Sachs, while still maintaining the sense of innocence and righteousness that makes her effortlessly charming. What we did appreciate this time round is how she also learns to be a sharper judge of character, as well as to be honest with her own motivations, however well-intentioned she may think of them. Blunt remains (ahem) a blunt instrument as the alpha of the original’s dual-assistant ‘Emilys’, and it is to her credit that her venomous character never becomes a caricature. Next to Streep, Tucci is the movie’s other MVP, and while he still gets some of the best barbs in McKenna’s dialogue, there is a newfound wisdom and dare we say sweetness to his role here that makes his character particularly endearing.

And then of course, there is Streep, whose hushed yet cutting line readings; glassy, reserved body language; and carefully composed layers of passive-aggressive reinforce why Miranda remains one of her most iconic and beloved film roles. To her credit, McKenna doesn’t simply let Streep be Streep; instead, she finds new layers and shading for Miranda, who has to come to terms with the fact that she can no longer eviscerate terrified employees in sotto voce or smash her coat down on an assistant’s desk without suffering the yoke of political correctness. Streep turns her character’s vulnerability into comedy gold, as Miranda shudders to learn there’s a staff cafeteria in the building where she’s expected to eat, that car services are out (meaning Ubers only), and that she has to travel coach on a flight to Milan. Streep owns the role through and through, and we cannot think of a higher compliment to pay her than that.

On his part, Frankel keeps everything briskly moving within the span of two hours, as the story jumps from New York to Europe and back. Like Paris did in the first movie, the Italian fashion capital serves as a glittering backdrop for lots of cool couture and historic landmarks, as well as the venue for a major Milan fashion show for which Miranda reluctantly calls in a favor to enlist Lady Gaga as a superstar guest. For those eager to keep tabs, there are cameos from a whole bunch of who’s who in high-end fashion, including Tina Brown, Marc Jacobs, Naomi Campbell, Law Roach, Kara Swisher, Jon Batiste, Brunello Cuccinelli and Donatella Versace.

So even though it took two decades for this reunion, we dare say in the case of ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ that absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder. We will say quite unabashedly that we enjoyed this sequel through and through, and though we admit that it is meant as fluffy entertainment, there is plenty of nostalgia, fan service, and sharply observed humour to make this a genuinely pleasurable return to the world of Runway. More importantly, for a whole generation of millennials, it was never simply the fashion, the one-liners, or even Miranda’s withering put-downs; it was the tension between aspiration and compromise, between wanting to belong to an intoxicating world and recognising what that world demands of you.

‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ may not have the freshness of discovery that made the original such a zeitgeist-defining hit, but it has the confidence of a sequel that knows exactly why audiences have held these characters so close for the past 20 years. It is glossy, witty, self-aware and immensely satisfying, a sequel that wears its nostalgia proudly, but not lazily. And really, after two decades away from Miranda Priestly and Runway, that is more than enough reason to say: that’s all.

Movie Rating:

(A glossy, witty and immensely satisfying sequel that wears its nostalgia proudly without feeling lazy, ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ proves that two decades away from Miranda Priestly and Runway have only made the heart grow fonder)

Review by Gabriel Chong