When The Devil Wears Prada 2 trailer landed on the internet this Monday, the mood was mixed. Yes, the world was generally happy to be reunited with the likes of Miranda Priestly, Andy Sachs and Emily Charlton. But something also felt... different. And not necessarily in a good way.
The Devil Wears Prada has become a cult classic since its original release in 2006, the kind of beloved film that seamlessly follows someone from their teenage years to adulthood, amassing greater and greater appreciation as the prefrontal cortex is refined (and as you learn how to spell “Gabbana”).
A lot of factors contributed to the success of the original film, which has managed to feel at once timeless and like a time capsule of a bygone era, all within its respectable one hour and 44 minute runtime.
The plot was based on a book written by Lauren Weisberger, who had real-life experience working undern Anna Wintour in the early 2000s. The outfits were created by legendary Sex and the City costume designer Patricia Field. The cast played what could have been considered a relatively fluffy fashion romp with the intensity of All The President’s Men. And it was all shot on film.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 trailer has shown fans a snippet of what’s to come, and nearly all of these magic-in-a-bottle moments appear to be missing. So, here’s what’s at risk of going wrong:
Miranda's declining health as a potential plot line
One of the main takeaways from the first trailer for The Devil Wears Prada 2 appears to be, “Wait, are they going to give Miranda dementia?” (Just check the Reddit threads.)
She forgets Andy’s and Emily’s existence, which obviously paves the way for a potential “Of course I remember you” scene, but also raises the very real possibility that the sequel might revolve around Miranda’s ageing mental state.
It’s one thing to watch the legendary Runway editor battle against more youthful adversaries and changing times, but seeing her literally deteriorate feels a bit too... overtly sad for a sequel.
There’s a new costume designer
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Patricia Field, the legendary costume designer responsible for an incalculable number of amazing looks worn on screen (in Sex and the City, Ugly Betty, The Devil Wears Prada and more), will not be returning for The Devil Wears Prada 2. Field appears to have taken a step back from costume design following her stint as a consultant on the first two seasons of Emily in Paris.
Instead, the costume design for the sequel will be led by Molly Rogers, who you may remember for her work on And Just Like That..., the much-derided Sex and the City spinoff series. While Rogers appears keen to set TDWP2 apart from her work on AJLT (“No pigeon handbags,” she told Vogue), her work on an already divisive follow-up to a cult classic has fans a little worried for what’s to come.
The cinematography doesn’t seem groundbreaking
Major studios shifted from shooting on film to digital in the early 2010s, which can account for how same-y and flat some newer films look. (But not all: directors with a big budget still prefer to shoot on film. One Battle After Another and Marty Supreme, two of this year’s biggest blockbusters, were shot on film.)
“It’s probably been since 2019 onwards that we seem to have this grey, washed out look in films,” says professional videographer George King. A colourist can fix this, “But the speciality you need to do grading at cinema level with a colourist comes at a cost, a very big cost.”
However, King notes: “Just because it’s not a Wes Anderson film doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve to look good.”
The aspirational quality is gone
From the very beginning, The Devil Wears Prada 2 threatened to tackle a much more depressing plotline than the original. While The Devil Wears Prada introduced viewers to the terrifyingly glamorous world of Runway through the eyes of unpolished ingénue Andy Sachs, TDWP2’s logline isn’t quite so sexy. “Miranda Priestly struggles against Emily Charlton, her former assistant turned rival executive, as they compete for advertising revenue amid declining print media, while Miranda nears retirement,” it says.
As anyone who works in this field can tell you, the decline in print media is decidedly unsexy. The champagne has stopped flowing, the free Manolos have dried up. As we are continually reminded in the first Devil Wears Prada movie, “A million girls would kill for this job.” Or as Miranda puts it: “Everybody wants to be us.” But does that still ring true in 2026?
We’ll simply have to wait until May 1, 2026, to find out.
