After almost two decades since The Devil Wears Prada became a huge hit, the much-anticipated sequel has officially begun filming. The film began filming on June 30, 2025, with mostly the same creative team and cast back to tell the next chapter of the fashion-world saga we all fell in love with.
Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci are all back as original characters. David Frankel directed the original film and is back to helm the sequel, as well as writer Aline Brosh McKenna. The story picks up in today's fashion world, featuring a Runway magazine that is in decline since its peak 20 years ago.
This time around, Miranda Priestly (Streep), the famous editor-in-chief, must accept the reality of a dying print. Emily Blunt's character, Emily Charlton, has moved up significantly in the fashion industry. She now holds a powerful spot at a luxury brand, and her advertising know-how is essential for Runway's very survival. The sequel will show how old relationships are tested in new situations, with various shifts in character power.
The film is also introducing a new character—Miranda's husband, portrayed by the highly acclaimed actor Kenneth Branagh. His casting is believed will lessens the potential for Miranda's character to be cold actually producing a more personal and warm aspect to Miranda's she has not had the opportunity to share.
Production is planning to film sequences in New York and Italy. This offers a more familiar yet new locale for the story telling.
A U.S. release date was set for May 1, 2026.
Anna Wintour's real-life exit adds a layer of authenticity to the narrative
While the start of the film's production may by chance coincide with a monumental turn in the real fashion world, the departure of Anna Wintour after 37 years from her role as the editor-in-chief of Vogue, while maintaining a wider leadership position at Condé Nast is certainly in the mix.
Wintour has often been characterized as the real-life version of Miranda Priestly, being that Lauren Weisberger, the author, had worked as Wintour's assistant at Vogue. Wintour was not an official part of the film, but the fact that this is happening somewhat concurrently with her professional change will give another dimension to the sequel's narrative.
Similar to the obstacles Miranda encounters in the effort to keep Runway relevant, Wintour is moving away from her editorial role during a period of major upheaval in fashion media. This real-world change is likely to resonate with the plot of the sequel and will likely remind fans that the lines between fiction and reality can sometimes be subtle.
In other notable news, Adrian Grenier (who played Andy Sachs' boyfriend Nate in the original movie) is not coming back for the sequel, and reports have stated his character won't feature in the sequel either. The focus of the sequel seems to be in professional development and work-related relationships, rather than love interests.
With a majority of the original cast and crew returning year after year and relevant real-world parallels, The Devil Wears Prada 2 is starting to feel like more than just a nostalgia follow-up, but a story with aspirations to be relevant to today’s shifting industry, leadership, and messy journeys of individual and professional development.
Source(Image / Thumbnail): cnn.com
