Twenty years on, Meryl Streep proves she never actually left the building and neither did we.
- The entire original cast returns twenty years later and their chemistry is completely intact.
- Lady Gaga, Lucy Liu, Kenneth Branagh, and Simone Ashley join an already stellar ensemble.
- The sequel tackles declining print media, digital disruption, and corporate power with wit.
- The trailer broke records with 222 million views in its first 24 hours upon release.
She’s back. That’s all. Two words. A barely audible exhale of judgment that could rearrange your entire career trajectory. Miranda Priestly is back in the building, the cerulean blue is still a thing, and twenty years of waiting has been answered with a sequel that arrives dressed impeccably, delivers exactly what was promised, and has the good sense to know it could never fully top the original. Meryl Streep still wears Miranda Priestly like a finely tailored suit in this sinfully enjoyable sequel, dressed to the nines in off-the-rack wish fulfillment and some genuinely trenchant observations about the state of modern media. The Devil Wears Prada 2 is in UAE cinemas now, and the only real question is why you haven’t booked your ticket already.
The setup is sharp and surprisingly timely. Andy Sachs, played by Anne Hathaway with the warm, wry energy of someone who has genuinely figured herself out over two decades, returns to Runway as its new Features Editor, only to find herself navigating a media industry in full existential meltdown. Miranda faces a fierce battle against Emily Charlton, her former assistant turned rival luxury brand executive, as they compete for advertising revenue amidst declining print media while Miranda approaches something nobody at Runway dares say aloud: retirement.
Emily Blunt, whose original performance as the magnificently brittle Emily remains one of the most perfectly calibrated comic turns in modern cinema, returns with every sharp edge intact and several new ones acquired along the way. Stanley Tucci as Nigel remains the film’s beating emotional heart, the one person in every room who is simultaneously the most intelligent and the most quietly devastated. David Sims of The Atlantic noted it has plenty of breezy fun probing the dilemmas of modern media, without abandoning the glitz that made the original so enduring. That balance is the whole trick and the film pulls it off more often than not.
The new additions to the cast are worth the ticket price alone. Kenneth Branagh as Miranda’s new husband brings an unexpected warmth and comedic vulnerability to the dynamic. Lucy Liu, Justin Theroux, Simone Ashley, and Lady Gaga join an ensemble that somehow manages to feel neither overcrowded nor underbaked, and Lady Gaga’s original song Runway, performed with Doechii, is the kind of needle-drop that will be playing in Dubai malls by next week. The fashion, handled by costume designer Molly Rogers, is spectacular throughout and if Miranda Priestly has opinions about the industry’s current visual direction, well, the film all but gives her a monologue to deliver them.
The film’s chief pleasures are those of practiced professionals doing their job and doing it well. None of the stars here is slacking, and their combined, easily resumed chemistry ensures that this sequel, for good long stretches, feels like old times. Is it as sharp, as surprising, or as perfectly constructed as the 2006 original? No. The original had the advantage of being genuinely unexpected, and no sequel can replicate the specific electricity of a character meeting an audience for the first time. Justin Chang of The New Yorker captured it precisely: the film is selling a truckload of preposterous goods, but it sells them awfully well, with unfeigned assurance, conviction, and the appropriate ratio of cynicism to hope. In 2026, when cynicism tends to win in most rooms, that ratio matters enormously.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 is in UAE cinemas now. Go for Miranda. Stay for Emily. Leave immediately if anyone tries to sit next to you wearing cerulean and calling it a colour choice they made themselves.
Director: David Frankel
Writer: Aline Brosh McKenna
Starring: Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Kenneth Branagh, Lady Gaga, Lucy Liu, Justin Theroux, Simone Ashley, B.J. Novak, Pauline Chalamet
Release Date: May 1, 2026
