The Devil Wears Prada 2: When Sequels Reject Their Character Arcs

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]How's it everybody? Katie and Andy here.

[00:00:02]So, we went to see The Devil Wears Proda 2, and sadly, it was probably the one thing worse than a cash grab. It was a sequel stripped of its soul to facilitate a discussion it's not capable of navigating in any meaningful way.

[00:00:15]Most of the things that made the first Devil War film have a lasting impression on the audience were gutted to make room for the conversation the writers wanted to have. And sadly, it is the characters that suffer the most. As a result, I went into the film not expecting much. I really liked the first film, but knew there wasn't a whole lot of chance that they would be able to recapture what made the first film special. But what I never expected was for the characters, in particular, Andy, played by Anne Hathaway, to become completely unrecognizable from the characters she grew into by the end of the first film.

[00:00:49]So, we're going to be talking about the Devil Wars Pro 2 and what happens when sequels sacrifice their characters because their journey is inconvenient and gets in the way of the story they want to tell. And naturally, there's going to be some spoilers as we work through this problem which plagues so many IPs. The Devil Wears Prada 2 is a sequel that swings between cynical and sappy. It uses the remaining charm and glitz of the original to distract the audience from the fact that the film isn't really about any of the original characters, their relationships, or even fashion. While the original film was a universal coming of age story about an individual choosing her soul over status, about not letting the prestige of a job that you don't really care about dissuade you from following your dreams, that no amount of success was worth compromising your purpose and morality. The second film unfortunately suggests the complete opposite. These are not the characters you remember from the first Devil Wars Prada. At least not the ones they had grown into. These are the characters the writers needed to capture the aesthetic and legacy of the first film while abandoning the growth of the characters that might get in the way of the story they wanted to tell.

[00:01:58]>> To understand how this all goes so wrong, you need to understand what made the first film resonate with so many and transcend beyond being just a typical chick flick. In the first film, Anne Hathaway's character Andy Saxs is pursuing her career as a journalist, but has to take a job at runway, which is essentially Vogue. She works as the assistant to Miranda Priestley, played by Meil Stre, who's the editor and chief of the magazine. The tension comes from the interaction between the naive Andy, who's clueless about all things fashion, and Miranda, who's demanding and abrasive. And he's also forced to compete with the other assistants led by Emily, played by Emily Blunt, who are ruthless as they aspire to be like Miranda. Andy's only saving grace is Miranda's right hand, Nigel, played by Stanley Tushi, who takes her under his wing and guides her with a mixture of catty zingers, but also genuinely tender and sound advice. In my opinion, Nigel's easily the best character in the film.

[00:02:50]While all this is going on, Andy's relationship with her boyfriend and friends become strained as she morphs into a version of herself built to thrive at the magazine. but one that she's not proud of. The turning point comes when Andy witnesses Miranda sabotaging a life-changing opportunity for Nigel, all so she can secure her lasting position at runway. This culminates in a scene where Andy confronts Miranda. Andy tells Miranda that she can never do what she did to someone else. To which Miranda points out that she already did. And it's at this point that Andy realizes that she's lost herself. And as you'd expect, Andy chooses her morality over status, abandoning the prestige of Miranda's world to reclaim her integrity and to actually pursue her purpose.

[00:03:33]But the big emotional payoff comes when the two women have a chance encounter.

[00:03:37]And they share a look of mutual respect before Miranda gets in her car and smiles to herself, clearly impressed by Andy, who in a world of sickans stood up to her and chose her own path. And all of that is undone within the first act of the sequel. Andy loses her job as an award-winning journalist, and her only option is to return to runway to help them navigate a sweat shop labor scandal. I really do think that most fans assumed they would see a sequel with Andy as the woman she had become, one who had earned Miranda's respect and was coming back to help the magazine as an equal. one who had struck out on her own path and whose integrity would inevitably clash with the abrasive and ruthless efficacy of Miranda Priestley.

[00:04:20]But no, the film is actually about fighting off corporate consolidation as the owner of Runway's parent company tries to maximize earnings at any cost.

[00:04:30]Andy and Miranda almost immediately revert to the power dynamic from the beginning of the first film. Andy goes back to being an insecure subordinate who needs Miranda's praise and acknowledgement. The fight to save runway is repeatedly depicted as a generalized plea to stand up to corporate greed and consolidation in all industries. It's not really about runway or doing the job you love. It's just about having a job at all. Characters repeatedly say that, by the way. They repeatedly talk about how they like being employed, even if it's in an industry they think is beneath them and potentially even exploitive. By shifting the focus from a personal journey about morality and integrity to a broad allegorical plea for the survival of every industry threatened by AI and consolidation, the film becomes a cynical empty calorie experience. It ultimately suggests that the best one can hope for is finding a better billionaire to hide under rather than pursuing one's true dreams. And I'm not trying to just bash on The Devil Wears Prada, and I'm not saying there isn't some charm still left in these characters, but The Devil Wears Prada 2 is reflective of some of the worst aspects of storytelling in Hollywood right now. The willingness to regress characters and stories that were complete, that had undergone transformative arcs and the simple pursuit of more, particularly more of what they in Hollywood want to talk about. Add to that the desire to strip the devil worse product two of the things that made the first film unique in favor of a very generic message of we have to stick together or we're all going to lose our jobs to AI and corporate greed and you have a very soulless sequel. And I can't help but think that the reason they took this approach is less about their concern of people losing their jobs or the concern that journalism and fashion will be ruined and much more to do with how these threats affect Hollywood. And that might seem like I'm reading too much into it, but there's a scene in the movie where Andy is talking about losing her job, and it feels like they're talking directly to the audience, explaining how even though they know they're privileged, they feel like we're all in this together. It's just a really clumsy scene that detracts from an already clumsy idea. I think the biggest challenge with the Devil Wars Prada 2 is determining who is the audience for this film. Like a lot of sequels, I think the marketing is aimed at creating the belief that this is for the fans of the original. Now, I'm not saying there is nothing for fans of the original film to enjoy cuz there still is some legitimate charm left in these characters. The last 15 minutes in particular does recapture some of the sincerity and soul from the original film, but for the most part, I think fans will be very disappointed because the Devil Works product 2 feels more like it was made for people who want to feel connected to the original, but have no interest in who the characters became by the end of that film. As we mentioned, Andy is completely unrecognizable. She's transported back in time to a version of who she was at the beginning of the original film. Because somehow, despite her success and growth and life experiences, which she demonstrated at the end of the last film and is winning awards for at the beginning of this film, she becomes a worse version of herself. It's a massive regression and not one that feels true to her character. I think this is a problem with a lot of recent Hollywood sequels.

[00:07:54]They become regressive because they aren't continuations of the story and characters that we care about. Instead, they're machines designed to transport us to how we felt 20 years ago, but it's a very pale reflection. Sometimes it seems like it's because they want to exploit the nostalgia of the audience.

[00:08:12]In other times, it seems like it's because they need the characters in these stories to become vessels for a new message or idea. The Devil Wears Prada seems to be doing both. It's a collection of recreated moments from the original, like Nigel giving Andy designer clothes and allowing her to pick outfits from the closet, but then it almost wants to escape the trappings of that nostalgia in order to have Andy working behind the scenes to prevent the takeover of Runway magazine. Not once, but twice in the film. And what's worse, because the film knows it needs to keep Miranda, Nigel, and Emily within arms reach, Andy has to keep popping in for check-ins with them. So, the whole film ends up feeling like a manic episode with Andy tripping into scene after scene to either escalate the tension of the story they want to tell about the dangers of some new business revelation or backroom deal. And the rest of the time, she's reminiscing about the past, which they know the audience wants to see. The story the writers clearly want to tell is made worse by the attempts to pay service to what the fans of the original have every right to expect from a sequel.

[00:09:20]>> I think it's important to acknowledge that the Delworth product 2 is not the first film to commit these sins.

[00:09:25]Hollywood is littered with legendary franchises that have been hollowed out by studios to serve as a skin for a totally different story while being marketed as a faithful continuation.

[00:09:35]Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and The Matrix, like the Devil Wars Prada, have wrestled with what to do with characters that do not fit into the story the new writers want to tell. Sadly, the battle's pretty one-sided. I know we talk a lot in modern film discussion about responsibility to the lore, and I think that's a very important conversation, but what I think is even more necessary is talking about a responsibility to the truth. By that I mean we should be asking and Hollywood writers should be asking what is true of these characters.

[00:10:06]So much of what makes people love stories revolves around seeing the characters grow and it seems like Hollywood is really struggling with that idea. We see many films that reject the concept of growth and those tend to fall flat and with very few exceptions feel very hollow. What makes the Devil Wars product 2 so disappointing is that the characters already had tremendous growth in the first film. But like with so many sequels that's wiped away to better facilitate the story the Hollywood writers want to tell. So many IPs have made the leap from character-driven stories to crusades. And there is nothing worse than revisiting a story filled with characters you loved and thinking I don't know you. The Devil Wears Prada, like so many stories, works better when it's character-driven. The original felt universal because the moral dilemmas resonated with everyone, regardless of their career or even gender. It's what elevated The Devil Wars Prada above being just another chickflick. The world of The Devil Wars Prada is weird, eccentric, and alien to most people, but the characters felt knowable and genuine. Because the sequel wants to trade the highly specific world from the first film for a generic placeholder for fashion and journalism and really any other profession that might be threatened by the relentless march of AI and corporate consolidation.

[00:11:28]The characters become very small and conditional as they're made to fit around this grand attempt to elevate what was already a very human and successful story. Andy has spent the last 15 years as an investigative journalist. is that version of the character, the one we never see in either film, but that solely exists in the gap between the two that makes sense to be fighting corporate greed and consolidation. But the writers want to cash in on the popularity and success of the Devil Wars Prada. They want to mind the aesthetic and quirks of the original, to wrap all that charm around a very important idea. And I want to be clear, I do think the issue of corporate consolidation and AI taking jobs is incredibly important. But seeing that idea injected into the Devil Wars Prada, especially with versions of these characters that have progressed just for the sake of nostalgia, makes for a very hollow experience, and it's something that we see in a lot of franchises. In fact, it almost follows the same comical escalation that you see in a lot of really bad sequels. While the original film focused on the individuals navigating relatable moral dilemmas, the follow-ups pivot towards highstakes missions to rescue the industry or save the world. In a bizarre sense, it mirrors the absurd evolution seen in the Fast and Furious franchise. These stories typically work when they're centered on the relationships between the characters and less so when they evolve into quests that are bigger than the characters. And you're probably wondering, does this really matter? It's probably just supposed to be a silly chick flick. It's not that deep, but the answer is yes, it does matter since we end up sacrificing the heart of the first film in pursuit of this crusade.

[00:13:07]And even the importance of discussion about consolidation and AI unemployment is compromised, and it ends up feeling like an attempt to inject relevance into a 20-year-old IP. The Devil Wears Product 2 has a real problem of feeling like it's trying to read the audience's mind. And I don't just mean in trying to anticipate what the audience wants because you kind of expect that from a sequel, but more so the film seems like it's trying to anticipate some of the negative feedback it might receive. And in the process, the writers reveal that on some level they know the expectations and limitations of the IP, yet decided to plow ahead with what they wanted to create. For instance, it seems like they know the audience from the first film might feel a little short changed that they haven't seen these characters grow.

[00:13:54]So, at the end of the film, they try to tack on a scene between Miranda and Andy to discuss the moral of the story.

[00:14:01]Problem is, it's the moral from the first story that the sort of decisions Miranda is making have a cost, which makes sense. Throughout the film, Andy flirts with the idea of writing an expose on Miranda. And in the end, Miranda says, "Go ahead and write it."

[00:14:17]That people need to know that the decisions she made and the career she's chosen come with a cost.

[00:14:24]So, it feels like the bones to have a character-driven story reflecting on Miranda's legacy were already there. And it's in this scene that it becomes so clear how unnecessary the injection of all the grander ideas really were.

[00:14:40]Hollywood seems to have forgotten that the most effective way to demonstrate the importance of an idea is by showing it through the impact it has on characters.

[00:14:50]And this isn't the only example of this.

[00:14:53]Nigel has been languishing in obscurity for the past two decades.

[00:14:59]The writers seem aware of how disheartening the stagnation is, so they awkwardly insert a moment where he delivers the speech he wrote for Miranda.

[00:15:08]But like so many in this film, the sequence is denied any gravity or sincerity. It feels like a hasty inclusion to appease the audience. It honestly would have been sufficient just to check back in with the cast and see where they ended up after two decades.

[00:15:25]But that isn't the movie Hollywood wanted to make. It feels like the writers didn't think there was enough depth in simply returning to these characters. So, they felt the need to pivot toward a much bigger, broader idea, but it seems like they realized that they'd be absolutely roasted if they didn't at least attempt to satisfy the audience's emotional connection to the original. I think Andy serves as the most glaring example of the writers struggling to balance what they want with what they anticipate the audience will want. I think the writers wanted to focus on Andy's career and success, but they didn't want her to come off as a lonely cat lady. Given how superficially included her love interest is, it feels an awful lot like it was tacked on after the initial script was written. That or it just didn't have a whole lot of room to fit given the other things this film was trying to accomplish. But the result in all of these instances is the same.

[00:16:23]and trying to tell the story the writers wanted to tell but also appease their audience. The moments that should feel the most earnest and the most weighted because they are the emotional anchors to the story end up feeling like drivebys. And this is the problem with losing focus of a sequel losing sight of what made the first film special. The writers spend so much time pulling the characters in the direction of the story they wanted to tell that they end up in places that don't really make sense for them. They almost feel like cameos in their own film. And those cameos end up distracting from the story the writers wish they were working on. Because the message of coming together to fight the takeover of your company by a ruthless corporation and seeing your friends and co-workers replaced or lose their jobs is compromised by the need to replicate the style and aesthetic of the Devil Wars product. And while the conversation about consolidation and the effect it has on real people's lives is important, mashing it into this film leads to a fairly absurd and out-ofouch conclusion.

[00:17:28]Because the solution to a billionaire taking over your company and downsizing it is to find another billionaire who promises they won't. I don't think finding a better billionaire is as satisfying of a conclusion as the writers think it is. And you're probably thinking, why are we reading so much into a sequel of the Devil Wars Prada?

[00:17:50]And we would agree with you. I don't think we should be. And I think that's the point. I do think it's silly that in discussing The Devil Wars Prada 2, we're discussing the implications of corporate consolidation and capitalism. Not because we think there should be restraints on the depth at which a story is thought about. I think thinking deeply about stories in film, even if it means going too deep, is part of what makes these things rewarding. The problem is The Devil Wears product is just a terrible conduit for these ideas.

[00:18:22]And in order to do it poorly, the film sacrificed the things that it was initially made to do very well. Not every story can be told through every set of characters and through every franchise. And this is a very real problem in Hollywood. Just like there are limits to what any tool can accomplish, there are limits to what can be accomplished in any film. Because to tell a story, the characters, the plot, the themes are your tools. But if you try and chisel a marble statue with a chef's knife, you end up with a very poorly made statue and a very blunt knife. Thank you so much for watching the video. Thank you to everyone who subscribed to the channel. And a special thank you to our members here and on Patreon. And thank you to everyone who joins us for our live streams where we work through these