Sequel expectations from a Devil Wears Prada purist

When it was first reported that Disney were in the throes of planning for a Devil Wears Prada sequel—with many of the original cast and crew in talks of returning—it came as incredibly important news to me personally. I even contemplated switching on my out of office for a while. ‘My mind is elsewhere, I will respond to you upon its return.’ But of course that would be unprofessional, and even though my good personal friend Andy Sachs can throw her work phone in a fountain and remain employable, it doesn’t mean I can.

First, we must address the obvious: I am a product of the ‘90s, ‘00s and ‘10s media that quite frankly insisted that I become a journalist. During my formative years I sat down and I watched The Devil Wears Prada, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, 13 Going on 30, and back-to-back episodes of Sex and the City and Girls, and you expect me to become anything else? How naive.

Though many subsequent programmes and films attempted to capture to magic of these few perfect pieces of cinema, few have cut the mustard, and what I love and respect about each of them the most is—with the exception of SATC—they graciously knew their stopping point. They deigned not to bleed themselves dry and ignored the rallying cries for spinoffs and sequels. They believe in moderation, and for that I have been grateful.

What I am saying, ostensibly, is that it seems as though Disney was so blithely unaware of the fact that both myself and Anne Hathaway have gone on the record to say that a follow on chapter is unnecessary to this film, and have chosen instead to barrel ahead and start pinning down plot points.

Still and withall, I will put on my cerulean blue big girl pants and lay out what we know thus far.

? CONFIRMED!

Emily Blunt, Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway and Stanley Tucci are all in talks to return for The Devil Wears Prada sequel at Disney.

Director David Frankel and producer Wendy Finerman are also set to return.

?: https://t.co/2yBxBIzq2a pic.twitter.com/qFesAQbKYu

— best of emily blunt (@badpostblunt) July 9, 2024

Originally reported by Puck on 8 July, it seems as though the film’s Oscar-winning producer, Wendy Finerman, has convinced Streep and Emily Blunt to sign on for a sequel, with the original film’s screenwriter, Aline Brosh McKenna, slated to pen the plot, and David Frankel taking the director’s chair once again.

The storyline is being built around Miranda Priestly—some 20 years on—as she navigates the worrisome decline of traditional magazine publishing (gulp). Emily Blunt’s character of Emily Charlton will apparently have made quite the career move, and when we meet her again she will be a high-powered executive for a luxury group with advertising dollars that Priestly desperately needs. Oh, the power dynamics of it all!

Let’s call a spade a spade: this is an extremely intriguing jumping off point, and I, being only human, can feel my expectations inflating already. In this vein, I am going to furnish you with some of my tentative hopes for the sequel, and what I consider to be unavoidable plot points.

The anti-influencer agenda

Be honest with yourself and consider what the queen of lip pursing herself Miranda Priestly would make of influencer marketing. What was once so sacred—and crucially, controllable—for the High Priestess of Publishing has been accessible to the masses, and obviously, Miranda would hate that. The allure and mystique of Runway magazine was its elite nature, Miranda’s own unknowability, and the careful curation of those who move in these inner circles. Behind-the-scenes TikTok videos and talking-to-the-camera Instagram stories don’t exactly feed into that.

Hence the opening gambit of her own obsolescence. The world—and the industry—will likely have moved on without her, and I am genuinely excited to see how they read into that. I hope they do it justice, because it speaks to a much wider conversation, and needs to be handled properly. For the love of God, if they make Miranda Priestly pivot to TikTok I will riot. That’s like asking Athony Bourdain to use a QR code to access a menu.

Fast fashion annihilation

One of the most iconic moments of the original film—of which there are many—is obviously the cerulean sweater monologue, during which Miranda absolutely gut punches Andy, and distils the workings of the fashion industry down to its very essence for all those watching at home. It is perfect, absolutely zero notes. Those belts were *completely* different, and that jumper was *obviously* pulled out of a clearance bin.

this monologue in the devil wears prada is everything. she taught us what fashion is pic.twitter.com/YrJAMdf9aP

— 2000s (@PopCulture2000s) October 2, 2023

What I hope and pray for this time around is a similarly visceral takedown of the fast fashion world. Maybe The Real Villain were the micro trends we flew through along the way? I would love for Meryl Streep to do more method acting and work herself up to such an extent that she’s ripping synthetic Shein hauls apart at the seams. Imagine the impact?!

Montages, music, and cameos

The opening montage of The Devil Wears Prada should be studied in schools, or at the very least dissected in more pop culture podcasts. Has anything ever set the scene quite so good? Goosebumps at the opening notes of KT Tunstall’s ‘Suddenly I See’ every single time.

There was also the ‘gird your loins’ boss lady is a-coming scene, and Andy’s fashion sequence—set against Madonna’s ‘Vogue’—where the film’s fashion budget is entirely blown in one minute and 18 seconds. I think that scene made us all consider a blunt fringe at one point or another.

wake up everyone the devil wears prada sequel is in the works with meryl streep set to return as miranda priestly ? pic.twitter.com/doDZOx9iv7

— ? (@theitcouture) July 9, 2024

Obviously, the soundtrack is going to change lives. The more I type, the more I realise I’m actually probably more excited about the news of a sequel than I had initially realised. I imagine the big wigs at Disney have enough money and resources to recruit the pop girls of the moment to create original numbers for the occasion.

And frankly, if they can’t put their hands in their pockets and secure us some genuinely jaw dropping cameos, I don’t want it. I need Anna Wintour to walk—however imperceptibly—directly through the back of a shot and never be seen again. I want Sarah Jessica Parker and Paul Mescal to be smoking cigarettes outside an office building. It doesn’t have to make sense! Some things can just be fun.

Finally, where are they now?

Obviously, even if Anne Hathaway really does refuse to partake in the action herself, they’re going to have to address what Ms Andrea Sachs has done with the intervening years, and it would want to be a hell of a lot more convincing that Samantha Jones’ overseas storyline.

Realistically, she’s probably dropped out of the rat race, written a few books, and is now running a moderately successful weekly newsletter. I do believe she would be far too poised to expose her previous employer, but I do imagine she had quite a lot to say about workplace relations, work-life balance, and toxic work environments.

She’s definitely not still with the universally hated Nate, who is likely running a moderately successful food truck specialising in passive aggressive grilled cheese sandwiches. Andy’s fellow journalist, Christian Thompson, I imagine has been completely cancelled by now, and has retired to some private island or another.

I want for Stanley Tucci’s Nigel to be for all intents and purposes unemployed, but merely appearing at glamorous events and spending lazy afternoons tending to the garden of his beautiful Architectural Digest-approved apartment. I hope he never has to worry about anything ever.

Miranda’s twins? They’re either internet famous and dating Icelandic princes, or they’re in jail. I really don’t know.

I suppose all that’s left to say is: watch this space? There are no actual concrete details as of yet, but no one can stop you from dreaming up your own imagined sequel. Except it probably won’t be as good as mine.