The Allegedly Hopeful Ending of ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’, Explained

Who ended up buying Runway?

You can have all the hustle and clout in the world and still not be able to save magazine journalism. Those are the stakes in the surprisingly bleak The Devil Wears Prada 2, as Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) tries to get Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) to care about saving Runway and the magazine’s legacy from wealthy vultures.

The magazine was already in decline when the chairman Irv Ravitz brought Andy back to run the features department and up their credibility. Then his finance bro son took over and revealed plans to sell Runway for parts, basically, to the dismay of Andy and her colleagues. She teamed up with her former frenemy from work Emily (Emily Blunt) to propose a new solution involving the deep pockets of Emily’s tech bro boyfriend Benji (Justin Theroux).

20th Century StudiosIt was Emily all along...

However, towards the end of the film we learn that Andy might have made things worse. The former first assistant wants to replace Miranda and rebrand the magazine in her image. To add insult to injury, Benji has some concerning AI aspirations for the company. Miranda feels betrayed. Andy is devastated. They’re back to square one.

To prevent Benji Barnes and Emily from acquiring Runway and destroying it in their way, Andy and Miranda find a new patron: Benji’s ex-wife Sasha, whose trust they earned earlier in the movie. She actually acquires all of Elias-Clarke, their parent company.

Are all of their problems solved forever?

Definitely not. Both Andy and Miranda lightly acknowledge that Sasha is still another billionaire and that she may decide she doesn’t actually want to be “hands off” in the future. Their fates are in her hands. They definitely didn’t save journalism or even save Runway. They replaced one billionaire with another. This is only a temporary solution.

The fact that Sasha Barnes is a female billionaire doesn’t necessarily make it better. “Women can be bad bosses too” was kind of the point of The Devil Wears Prada, after all, way before the concept of a “girlboss” became a popular criticism. However…

Why were any of them trusting men in the first place?

That is a good question that, unfortunately, I cannot answer. If you ask me, Andy should have gone to Sasha Barnes first, instead of Benji. Was she blinded by the potential for friendship with Emily? That’s the only explanation. Men in these movies, be them boyfriends or coworkers, are always so disappointing.

Kind of the only trustworthy male character is Nigel. We knew that already. But the end of the film reveals that Nigel was the one who suggested Irv Ravitz reach out to Andy and offer her the job running the features department. If any man is going to be pulling the strings behind the scenes, I’d prefer it to be him.

Miranda’s new musician husband, played by Kenneth Branagh, whose name is allegedly Stuart, is also mostly harmless. You could tell that he wasn’t telling Miranda what she wanted to hear when he assured her that her family would be there for her when she retired. But his heart was in the right place and he was a gracious host.

Caleb Hearon’s character? Innocent until proven guilty. Benji Barnes, Jay Ravitz, low-key Irv Ravitz, and even Andy’s love interest Peter are all on notice. (I can’t support a man who compares gutting newsrooms to flipping apartment buildings! He should have been the one to apologize after that fight, not Andy!)

Oh, and Andy and Emily do start something resembling a friendship at the end. You go, girls.

Does Miranda retire?

Again, did she want to? Regardless, the answer is no. Sasha gives her the promotion she was aiming for at the beginning of the film and she stays on in her old office.

Is Andy still writing her tell-all book?

…yes? I think so. Probably. The movie doesn’t end with a book signing. However, Miranda tells Andy that she knows about the book deal–that was the betrayal she alluded to earlier–and encourages her to write it and tell the truth. But then we don’t really see Andy do any more work on it. At the end of the film, she’s settling into her new office at Runway and is presumably too busy to go on book leave. TBD!