YNOT at the Movies

Twenty years is a long time to wait for a sequel, but "The Devil Wears Prada 2" (USA 2026 | 119 min.) earns every one of those years. Returning director David Frankel and screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna have crafted something that feels less like a cash-grab and more like a genuine, considered continuation: sharper and punchier than you might expect, and consistently, delightfully witty. If it lacks some of the cold, delicious cruelty that made the original such a phenomenon, perhaps that is simply what twenty years does to people. Life softens some edges, hardens others, and these characters have lived.

The film reunites the original cast as Runway Magazine faces an existential threat from a crumbling print media landscape. Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) finds herself presiding over a legacy empire with an earthquake beneath her feet, while Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway), twenty years after throwing her phone into a fountain and walked away from Runway, is pulled back into this glamorous, treacherous world. Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt) has landed a senior position at Dior with all the power she always craved, and Nigel Kipling (Stanley Tucci) is still plugging away in an industry that has transformed beyond recognition around him.

Meryl Streep navigates Miranda's evolution with breathtaking precision, finding new vulnerability in the character without sacrificing an ounce of her formidable armor. Anne Hathaway's Andy returns as a woman who chose integrity over ambition and has no regrets: professionally confident, clear-eyed about who she is, and still the most relatable person in any room she walks into. Emily Blunt is an absolute riot, completely unhinged in the best possible way, while Tucci grounds every scene he is in with a dry, lived-in ease that feels utterly effortless.

What truly elevates the film is how seamlessly the new additions slot into the ensemble. Amari (Simone Ashley) is less cowering supplicant and more Miranda-in-training: a razor-focused assistant who has absorbed both the best and worst of her boss, which makes her both formidable and unsettling to watch. Charlie (Caleb Hearon) is the wide-eyed newcomer who clearly grew up reading Runway under his bedcovers and still cannot quite believe he is there. Jin (Helen J. Shen) is all coiled ambition beneath a thrift-store aesthetic, angling to prove herself in a magazine world that is running out of time.

What is particularly remarkable is how the film handles its newer power players: none of them dominate the screen, and yet not one of them feels like a prop. Stuart (Kenneth Branagh) is a composer and violinist who owes Miranda a personal debt and is, unusually for the men in her orbit, not afraid of her, and every moment he is on screen carries a distinct, considered presence. Jay (B.J. Novak) turns up in expensive synthetic activewear as the kind of tech entrepreneur who thinks of himself as perpetually modern and perpetually on the move.

The film's sense of occasion is significantly bolstered by a parade of real-life fashion luminaries and musicians, including a memorable appearance from Lady Gaga, lending scenes set in the world of high fashion an authenticity that no amount of set dressing alone could achieve.

When the film moves to Milan for its spectacular second half, it fully ignites. The Runway fashion show, staged at the grand Accademia di Brera, is a genuine showstopper: a feast of Italian couture from the likes of Prada, Fendi and Dolce & Gabbana, set to the pulse of Madonna's Vogue, which floods the sequence with an electric, euphoric energy that will have audiences grinning from ear to ear.

And then there are the clothes beyond the runway itself. Costume designer Molly Rogers has outdone herself here. With Andy alone logging upwards of 47 outfit changes, the wardrobe is a film unto itself: archival Jean Paul Gaultier, Armani Privé, Dolce & Gabbana, a one-of-a-kind Balenciaga ballgown for Streep, and an inspired "feminine menswear" throughline for Andy that perfectly captures who she has become. This is costume design as pure storytelling, and an Academy Award nomination next year would be thoroughly deserved.

This sequel justifies its own existence, not by repeating the past but by reflecting honestly on it. It may not be quite as deliciously mean as the original, but it is sharp, wise, and arguably emotionally satisfying. Go see it on the biggest screen you can find.

"The Devil Wears Prada 2" opens in theaters on Friday, May 1, 2026.