“Devil Wears Prada 2” ending explained: Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway react to final shot's powerful “Working Girl” tribute

Joey NolfiSat, May 2, 2026 at 12:30 PM UTC

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Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep in 'Devil Wears Prada 2'; Melanie Griffith in 'Working Girl'Credit: Macall Polay/20th Century Studios; Everett; Macall Polay/20th Century StudiosKey Points -

Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, Emily Blunt, and director David Frankel tell EW what The Devil Wears Prada 2 ending means to them.

The stars also react to the film's powerful Working Girl tribute in the final shot.

Streep calls the moment "fantastical," while Hathaway points out a contrast to the ending of the 2006 movie.

The following contains spoilers for The Devil Wears Prada 2.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 might bring its titanic fashion figures back together for an epic battle against the modern mediapocalypse, but, as the film's bittersweet ending proves, the devil's in the details when it comes to the (sequined) ties that bind Miranda Priestly and Andy Sachs together.

Reflecting on the sequel in new interviews with Entertainment Weekly, the returning cast and director David Frankel offer a candid explainer on The Devil Wears Prada 2 ending, which also includes, as its final shot, a powerful visual callback to the last scene of Melanie Griffith's 1988 classic Working Girl.

Picking up 20 years after the events of the first film, the sequel finds Miranda (Meryl Streep) on a downturn from her decades-long perch at the peak of haute couture. Runway — the once esteemed, glossy fashion bible where budding journalist Andy (Anne Hathaway) got her high-heeled foot in the industry door — is now a hodgepodge of digital content and printless fashion advertorials. After a scandal involving a Shein-esque fast-fashion brand, publishing mogul Irv Ravitz (Tibor Feldman) enlists Andy's expertise to boost Runway's credibility amid the increasingly soulless media landscape.

Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci in 'The Devil Wears Prada 2'Credit: 20th Century Studios

Reluctantly reunited, Andy seeks to boost her former boss' brand with help from both longtime Runway backbone Nigel (Stanley Tucci) and ex-staffer Emily (Emily Blunt), who now leads Dior's United States operations.

Their plot to save Runway (and preserve it as not only a cultural institution but also a journalistic one) grows complicated after Irv collapses and dies at his birthday celebration, leaving his son, Jay (B.J. Novak), in control of all of Elias-Clarke Publications. Distrustful of his vision after Andy's assistant (Helen J. Shen) obtains information about Jay's plans for the operation, Andy and Emily hatch a plot to persuade Emily's romantic partner, Elon Musk-esque Benji Barnes (Justin Theroux), to purchase the brand to ensure Miranda's future at the head.

But, on a trip to Italy for Milan Fashion Week, Miranda sniffs out the plot, and, in a pivotal scene, it's revealed that Emily was secretly gunning to acquire Runway so she could oust Miranda and take over for herself.

Thanks to an earlier empathetic interview Miranda conducted with reclusive star and Benji's ex-wife, Sasha Barnes (Lucy Liu), she and Andy are able to convince Sasha to buy Runway out from under her former spouse. Thus, Miranda's place is secured, as is Andy's and Nigel's, the latter of whom, it's eventually revealed, was the one who actually pushed for Andy's return to Runway.

Emily and Andy also reconcile and agree to have a warm friendship, beginning with a playful date at a New York City restaurant. But, in a reversal of the famous "everybody wants to be us" car scene shared between them at the end of the 2006 film, Miranda makes it clear to Andy that mutual ambition does not equal affection. The pair aren't friends, and there's no implied loyalty beyond providing mutual security — and sharing a commitment to excellence — at Runway.

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In the last shot (which strongly recalls the final frame of Working Girl), the camera looks through a high-rise window, centering on Andy in her Runway office (the same way we see Griffith, alone and accomplished, in her new office). But, building on Working Girl's commentary, The Devil Wears Prada 2's camera pulls back, showing Nigel and Miranda hard at work in their respective corners of Runway, too — together, yet separate.

Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway in 'The Devil Wears Prada 2'Credit: Macall Polay/20th Century Studios

"To me, that pull-away, yes, it's a nod to Working Girl, but when you pull back on the city, and you see those three little people, it's replicated in every building. Everybody's going through the same sort of suspension in time. They're just like insects in a display case," Streep tells EW. "Are they going to sustain? Is this going to last? Because it's precarious, this little solution that they find at the end of this movie. It's fantastical, it's like a deus ex machina comes in from outer space, this solution that they find. But, is it going to last?"

Hathaway has a slightly different take, adding that the ending "brought home one of [her] favorite things that happens" in the first film, after Andy throws her phone into the Fontaine des Fleuves, just as she receives a desperate call from Miranda upon realizing Andy abandoned her — and the editor's lonely pursuit of career achievement — in Paris.

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"At the end of the first film, Andy throws the phone in the fountain and goes her own way. This one, she learns she wants to be on a team. I just think it shows the three of them are stronger together, and that there's obviously the head of the empire, but there are no stars when it comes to doing the work," Hathaway observes. "As a person living in the world right now, trying to make sense of a lot of chaos, I felt like I was relieved and hopeful. Look at them! Those three are still at it! I should stay at it, too."

Frankel confirms that the last shot is "a salute" to Working Girl, but that he and writer Aline Brosh McKenna wanted to communicate "the universal idea" that the three central characters are "just part of the landscape" and could "be anybody" in the world.

But, though their reunion isn't as warm as typical Hollywood endings, "They're all still in it together," Frankel says. "There's still room on the raft off the Titanic. And that's the raft, right?"

The Devil Wears Prada 2 is now playing in theaters nationwide.

on Entertainment Weekly

Original Article on Source

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