Two decades and the invention of smartphones and social media later, The Devil Wears Prada is back. It's triggering — I worked at a fashion magazine in the 2010s and it was Miranda Priestly–inspired hell — but it's a high-heeled reboot I frankly welcome on my neck.

Everything we loved about the 2006 original finds reinvention here: Runway's coveted closet, star-studded runway shows, Meryl Streep destroying editorial staff with laconicism. The Devil Wears Prada director David Frankel and writer Aline Brosh McKenna return, treating their shimmering sequel like an event, one that's just as meme-worthy and acerbic 20 years down the runway.

Offering the season's most anticipated collection of high fashion, celebrity cameos, and sweeping statements on modern media, The Devil Wears Prada 2 delivers an expertly tailored sequel, made-to-measure and unmistakably its own brand.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 reinvents the original film for 2026.

Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway), former Runway assistant in the 2000s, is now an investigative journalist who goes viral for an impassioned "journalism still f***ing matters" speech at an awards ceremony. However, when her whole team gets laid off by text during the same event, Andy needs a job — and the illustrious fashion magazine Runway needs some good PR.

Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) still reigns as Runway's imperious editor-in-chief (don't you forget it). With a little help from her new Gen Z Emily/Andy, Amari (Simone Ashley), she's begrudgingly toned down her signature superciliousness for an obligatory tolerance — ugh, progressive labor laws. However, she's still the most formidable fashion editor on the planet. Alas, Miranda is currently the internet's "villain du jour" after covering a fast-fashion brand linked to sweatshop conditions (it's called SpeedFash, so the clues were there). Going viral puts Andy back on Condé Nast Elias-Clark Publications' radar, so whether the EIC likes it or not (she doesn't), she's Runway's newest (returning) employee.

Understanding the fierce power of The Devil Wears Prada as a pop cultural moment, Frankel and Brosh McKenna stack the sequel with references to the original film. Some are subtle: a Central Park vendor selling seemingly identical cerulean belts (I said seemingly!). Some are overt: Runway's Met Gala–style benefit being groundbreakingly themed "Spring Florals" — reader, I cackled. But where there's past, there's present. Those Motorola RAZR V3s and T-Mobile Sidekick IIs have been replaced with Samsung's latest Galaxy smartphones. The soundtrack's KT Tunstall and Jamiroquai make way for Dua Lipa, Lady Gaga, and Doechii — though, of course, Madonna's "Vogue" makes its requisite appearance. Plus, Andy's ultra '00s pageboy cap gets a full scene nod.

The Devil Wears Prada cinematographer Florian Ballhaus also returns with nostalgia in hand. The sequel's opening sequence, in which we reconnect with Andy, is nearly identical to the original film, from teeth-brushing to sweeping shots of New York City. Production designer Jess Gonchor (who worked on the original film), art director Robert Guerra, and set decorator Regina Graves meticulously refresh the world of Runway and the '00s New York it thrived in. 

Walking back into Miranda Priestly's hallowed office feels like we never left, though the interior has been updated in the editor's style. The film takes us for drinks at Bubby's, the favored bar where Andy and her friends toast to "paying that rent." It's unmistakably The Devil Wears Prada, but make it 2026, and it's matched by the film's unparalleled cast.

Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, and Emily Blunt make The Devil Wears Prada 2.

Let's get this clear: The Devil Wears Prada is nothing without its cast. Triumphantly strutting back into their iconic roles, Streep, Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, and Emily Blunt are who we're here to see, decked out in covetable couture from costume designer Molly Rogers (who worked with Patricia Field on the first film) and armed with more ruinous reads than a Drag Race mini challenge.

Streep slips back into Miranda Priestly's Valentinos with ease, delivering withering glares and critiques with the restrained demeanour that launched a thousand reaction GIFs. 2026 brings with it distasteful developments for the editor-in-chief; watching Streep spit out words like "bum bag" in disbelief at current fashion is worth the ticket price. But legacies like Miranda's defy frivolous trends, and Streep's EIC feels eternally en vogue as a woman still at the top of her game, confident in her exquisite taste, and loath to completely bow to a changing industry.

Dazzling in Annie Hall-inspired style, Hathaway returns to her earnest Andy Sachs roots wholeheartedly, moving her protagonist from naive newcomer who can't spell Gabbana to respected journalist, outwardly shrugging off Miranda's signature shade while desperately seeking her approval. Dismissive as always, the editor doesn't recognise her former assistant at all — it's been 20 years and this is Miranda Priestly. However, eventually, the power dynamic between them reverts to muscle memory: Miranda waiting for Andy to fail, Andy determined to succeed whatever the impossible task (there's no secret Harry Potter book, but something more editorial).

The tailored twinkle in The Devil Wears Prada's eye, Tucci's Nigel Kipling, is sublime returning as the charming art director whose dress-downs still rival Miranda's. A darling in Dior, Blunt's Emily Charlton remains serving curt, with the star's sharp comedic timing hitting every mark as Miranda's scorned former assistant — "May the bridges I burn light my way," she declares, genuinely. 

Though there's been 20 years between the events of the first film and its sequel, director Frankel authentically addresses ancient grudges between characters — a moment of camaraderie between Miranda and Nigel had me misty-eyed.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 rolls out the glossiest supporting cast.

Beyond the core four is a dazzling supporting cast, with Simone Ashley impeccable as Miranda's latest first assistant, Amari, responsible for keeping her boss uncanceled. Rachel Bloom lights up her all-too-brief appearance as Andy's book publisher friend who is "editing a memoir by one of Paris Hilton's chihuahuas." 

B.J. Novak plunges The Devil Wears Prada 2 into Succession territory as the heir to Runway's parent company, and Lucy Liu is serene as Sacha Barnes, the one designer who won't do press. 

Meanwhile, Andy's plunged into yet another strained romance storyline with real estate agent Peter (Colin From Accounts' Patrick Brammall), a plot distraction that feels wildly unnecessary, but one that sees Brammall in fine comedic form (a joke about Australians needing to say hello to each other literally anywhere landed only with me, but reader, it landed). 

Ultimately, watching Miranda Priestly and Andy Sachs back on screen is the competency porn we deserve without another season of The Pitt just yet. Though The Devil Wears Prada might be a time capsule of pre-internet publishing, its sequel cleverly reinvents the franchise for the now with its meme-worthy one-liners and undying love for fashion and journalism. That's all.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 hits cinemas May 1.