"It’s me, hi: I’m one of the many girls whose lives were permanently altered by the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada. Not only did watching the movie at age 12 single-handedly convince me to pursue a career in media, but my obsession drove me to read The Devil Wears Prada book, the sequel, Revenge Wears Prada, and the spinoff, When Life Gives You Lululemons. So naturally, when Puck broke the story of a Devil Wears Prada sequel in the works, I completely freaked out. You won’t be hearing any spinoff fatigue from me: As far as I’m concerned, this is the sequel the people need.
Plus, you can pick them up at your local CVS right now!
With that said, though, The Devil Wears Prada is a great movie, which means that there are high stakes for the sequel. The second book, Revenge Wears Prada, isn’t exactly universally beloved. On top of that, superfans of the original movie (including myself) will be extremely upset if the three main characters—Andy, Miranda, and Emily—don’t get the screenwriting they deserve. Here’s what I want from The Devil Wears Prada sequel as someone who has read the books and is an avid fan.
Warning: Minor spoilers for The Devil Wears Prada books (and potentially the sequel film) ahead.
1. A Very Tense Miranda, Emily, and Andy Reunion
In Revenge Wears Prada, Emily and Andy have split from Miranda and Runway to start a high-end bridal magazine, The Plunge. They received the funding from Andy’s new husband, Max, who is the heir to a media company. Andy handles the editorial side of the magazine while Emily is in charge of advertising—and they’re killing it. Miranda finds her way back into Andy and Emily’s lives when she, as the new editorial director of Elias-Clark, decides she wants to buy The Plunge.
While Miranda actually fails to remember that Andy and Emily worked for her during their awkward reunion in Revenge Wears Prada, that forgetfulness isn’t going to cut it for fans of the original film. Personally, I want to see each of these characters sweat in their own unique way during this reunion scene. I want Andy to be loudly blundering through the conversation about the possibility of the sale of her magazine. I want Emily to be in uncomfortable awe of Miranda all these years later. And I want Miranda to present a 100 percent cool, unreadable, emotionless exterior over a business exchange that she secretly desperately needs to keep her career afloat.
2. A Teeny Bit of Revenge on Miranda
Remember the scene in The Devil Wears Prada, just before Miranda screws over Nigel, where she’s finally humanized? Andy walks in on her in her Paris hotel room, crying over her failed marriage. Eighteen years later, there’s no question that Miranda isn’t the only—or even the biggest—villain in The Devil Wears Prada. Like all women, she bears a crushing responsibility to please everyone around her. That scene in the original movie is crucial for conveying the problematic and difficult nuance of girlbossery.
With that said, Miranda is still an abusive boss. She perpetuates a toxic culture of obsession with appearance, she gaslights her employees daily, and she demands a commitment to work at Runway that is unethical. In Revenge Wears Prada, Miranda is desperate to acquire The Plunge—she needs the ad dollars in an era where print media is being completely overtaken by digital. This provides some “revenge” for Andy and Emily, but in the sequel to the film, I’m hoping that the two get to twist the knife a bit more. I have my fingers crossed for a scene where they relish the feeling of escaping an abusive workplace only to wield power over their former boss. They deserve it.
3. A Look Into a Deteriorating Media Landscape
Maybe you loved the original Devil Wears Prada for the stunning outfits. Maybe you loved it for the fantastic acting by a stacked cast or the iconic one-liners (groundbreaking). But for me and many others, The Devil Wears Prada was, and still is, great because it provided a window into the media industry. Fictional and romanticized as it was, it’s hard not to be obsessed with the “real” lives of the most well-known people in media—especially media that’s marketed to women. As a little girl watching this movie, I wanted a getting-ready-for-work sequence set to Suddenly I See more than anything. Watching The Devil Wears Prada was the first time I felt excited about having a career.
Revenge Wears Prada highlights the ups and downs of the media landscape even further with the tension between Runway in print and The Plunge digitally. This tension exists now between digital media and social media. TLDR: The media industry is never moving at a glacial pace. To replicate the same magic as the original Devil Wears Prada movie, this sequel must peel back the curtain on women’s media in some way. Even if the screenwriters decide to scrap The Plunge or alter the storyline of Revenge Wears Prada, the sequel still has to dive into magazines, whether they’re print, websites, or… Substacks? I can’t wait to see how the screenwriters address high fashion in the TikTok era.
4. Acknowledgment of the Real “Devil”
Yeah, Miranda is bad, but the most universally disliked character in The Devil Wears Prada has to be Andy’s boyfriend, Nate. He doesn’t trust his girlfriend to navigate the magazine industry with integrity, so when she finally starts to succeed, he ruthlessly criticizes her. Nate himself might not be “the devil” in the movie—but let’s just say he’s certainly less invested in Andy’s success than Miranda.
In Revenge Wears Prada, Andy has the rug swept out from under her when her husband, Max, and Emily sell The Plunge to Miranda behind her back. Andy isn’t treated well by her boyfriends, whether she’s under Miranda’s thumb or making it on her own. I think this plot twist at the end of Revenge Wears Prada is the best part of the book, and I hope it shows up in the sequel. It would be a fabulous parallel to the relationship dynamics in the first movie, and it would tease out the true “devil” (that is, the men who want Andy to mold to their needs instead of letting her be who she is).
5. More Nigel!
Stanley Tucci hasn’t officially signed on for the sequel yet, but a girl can dream! This has less to do with Revenge Wears Prada and more with the fact that I just really love the character of Nigel. The care he shows for Andy when she’s at rock bottom at Runway will melt my heart every time, and he deserves better than the treatment he got from Miranda. Plus, putting more focus on Nigel in the sequel would show how the toxic dynamic between Emily, Andy, and Miranda is also harmful to the people around them. Quite simply, I want another line that hits as hard as “Gird your loins!” That’s all.