I have a controversial take on The Devil Wears Prada: I don’t think Andy’s boyfriend Nate (Adrian Grenier) was the villain.
It’s been 20 years since the iconic film brought the fictional offices of Runway into our lives, offering an inside look into the high fashion, high pressure world of magazines. Despite the titular “Devil” being a subtle-as-a-sledgehammer nod to IRL then-Vogue editor Anna Wintour — fictionalised as ice queen Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) — and despite our main gal Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) being bullied, fat shamed and generally tortured by her colleagues Emily (Emily Blunt) and Nigel (Stanley Tucci), the prevailing argument has long been that Andy’s chef boyfriend Nate was the actual villain of the film.
It’s an easy argument to make. Fledgling journalist Andy takes the assistant job at Runway, gets caught up in the job, and has the style makeover of millennial dreams. Meanwhile, Nate judges her style (“You got a job at Runway? Was it a phone interview?” was a criminal offence IMO), berates her for working long hours, and sulks when Andy misses his birthday dinner for a major work event. (He later claims he didn’t get mad about it, but that’s even worse. Sir! You were mad! Own it.)
Nate dumps her, but after Andy leaves Runway, they reunite (ugh). The film rewards Andy for choosing herself and ‘proper’ journalism by giving her back her loser boyfriend.
The “Nate was the real villain” argument is so dominant that Grenier himself even sent it up in a recent ad for Starbucks, playing on his villain status and pretending not to be salty he wasn’t asked back for the sequel.
However, I’d like to offer an alternative. Ahead of the much-anticipated sequel, I rewatched the OG for the 7235th time, and decided that Andy herself is the real villain. I present to you my very scientific findings.
Why Andy Sachs was the real villain of The Devil Wears Prada
- She doesn’t research Miranda Priestly or Runway before turning up to the interview. You might look down on fashion, but what kind of journalist doesn’t know one of the biggest power players in media full stop? And not researching before your interview? What WERE they teaching you at Northwestern, Andy?
- She whines about the job she asked for, as Nigel correctly pointed out. After making a big speech about how she’ll work hard and learn fast, she handles each new task with either wide eyed panic or total derision. Yes, you need to go pick up Miranda’s dog! What did you think being a personal assistant would involve, anyway?
- She looks down on fashion, and everybody who works at Runway. You don’t need to wear Chanel to work to prove you’re good enough for the job, but you do need to take it a little bit seriously. The only acceptable word after snorting at those two belts being “so different” is “sorry”. Instead, Andy rambles, accidentally exposing her complete derision for the fashion industry, and gets excoriated by Miranda via the iconic cerulean speech.
Recently I was lucky enough to fly to NYC to interview the cast, director and scriptwriter for The Devil Wears Prada 2, so I thought I’d turn the question on them. Who do they think was the OG villain?
Answers from this very scientific experiment below.
Emily Blunt (Emily) & Stanley Tucci (Nigel)
When I asked Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci who they thought the OG Devil Wears Prada villain was, they initially thought “no one”. And the Emily grimaced and said, “Maybe…. me?
“You were just a bit of a nasty person,” Stanley replied.
“You know who I thought was a bit villainous?” Emily continued. “Simon Baker‘s character.”
In case you’ve forgotten, Simon Baker played Christian Thompson, the slick high profile journalist somehow powerful enough to have his face on the side a bus (okay Carrie Bradshaw), have access to the unpublished Harry Potter manuscript, and scheme to overthrow Miranda Priestly. As someone who’s worked in media for more than a decade, let me tell you that no such writer exists.
“He wasn’t a villain, he was just creepy,” Stanley said. “Great actor, but the character was a little too smarmy.”
Result: no villain, but maybe Simon Baker.
Caleb Hearon (Charlie)
Caleb Hearon, who plays Charlie, one of Miranda’s three new assistants in the sequel, was ready with his “unpopular” take.
“I don’t think the boyfriend is as big a villain as everyone makes him out to be,” he said. “She [Andy] is changing. She’s turning into a different person, and it’s actually the point of the script, that she has lost herself in this new role. Her friends and loved ones were correct to notice that and take umbrage with it. And then when she throws out her phone and decides to stop, it was an acknowledgment that he was right and so were her friends. He also was not the guy for her because he handled it toxically, but the narrative that he was the unrepentant villain, I’ve always had a problem with. I don’t think it’s true to the script.”
Instead, he offered a different take.
“The twins, when they were telling her to go upstairs? Villainous. Objectively Villainous. Crazy. But they’re kids, so you can’t be mad at them.”
Result: not Nate, maybe Miranda Priestly’s twin girls.
Helen J. Shen (Jin)
Helen J. Shen, who plays another Miranda assistant, Jin, was short but sweet.
“I agree with Caleb.”
Result: as above.
Simone Ashley (Amari)
Bridgerton girlie Simone Ashley — who plays Miranda’s new first assistant Amari — was a little more cagey.
“I totally hear what you’re saying,” she said, referring to Caleb’s take. “I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about that question that hard. All I remember is the scene where it’s his birthday, and he makes this big deal about it. I remember watching it and was like… [grimaces]. I don’t know.”
Result: not Nate, but not not Nate. TBC.
David Frankel (director)
David Frankel, who directed both the OG and the sequel, knew exactly where I was going with this line of questioning.
“I know where this is coming from and I don’t think Nate was the villain,” he said.
“Is there a villain? The villain is probably the future. It’s not just the world of mags. It’s what’s coming to [journalism], and it feels scary.”
Result: [waves hand at various threats to journalism]
Aline Brosh McKenna (screenwriter)
Aline Brosh McKenna, who wrote the final script for the OG film and also penned the sequel, argued that there was no villain in her script.
“I don’t think there is a villain. I don’t think I write villains,” she said, fairly.
“I think the villain is time, pressure, mortality, human frailty. I don’t think humans are villains.”
Result: human flaws.
WATCH: The Devil Wears Prada 2 cast reveal who the OG villain was.
FWIW, a few years ago Anne Hathaway was asked this same question and also thinks Nate wasn’t the real villain.
“I think that they were both very young and figuring things out. And he did behave like a brat, but I also behaved like a brat in my 20s,” she said on Watch What Happens Live in 2022. “I hopefully grew out of it, and I think that’s what we all do. I wouldn’t want to be defined by the worst moment in my 20s certainly. So I don’t hold Nate as a villain, actually.”
That’s all.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 opens in Australia on April 30, 2026.
The post Who Was The OG Devil Wears Prada Villain? I Asked The Cast To Weigh In appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
