Development In 2013,
Lauren Weisberger wrote and published
Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns, a sequel to her 2003 novel
The Devil Wears Prada which had been adapted into
the 2006 film. Starring cast members
Meryl Streep and
Anne Hathaway were not eager to do a sequel, with Streep reportedly saying that she was not interested, and Hathaway stating she would like to work with the same people on "something totally different". In July 2024, it was reported that
Walt Disney Studios, the parent division of
20th Century Studios, was interested in developing a sequel. Negotiations began that month with
Aline Brosh McKenna returning to write the screenplay, and Streep, Hathaway,
Emily Blunt and
Stanley Tucci reprising their roles from the first film. A $100 million budget was allotted for production, almost triple what the original film cost to make, unadjusted for inflation. But
David Frankel, who returned as director, said that most of the difference was accounted for by actors' salaries and "[we had] basically the same budget for making the movie as we did the first one." It was later revealed that Streep, Hathaway, and Blunt had pay parity on the sequel - each receiving $12.5 million upfront plus backends dependent on the film's performance with potential to ultimately earn over $20 million each.
Casting and filming Principal photography began on June 30, 2025, with
David Frankel again directing, and
Kenneth Branagh joining the cast. In July, it was announced that
Tracie Thoms and Tibor Feldman were reprising their roles, with
Simone Ashley,
Lucy Liu,
Justin Theroux,
B. J. Novak,
Pauline Chalamet,
Rachel Bloom and
Patrick Brammall as new additions to the cast. Streep, Hathaway, and Tucci were spotted filming in
Manhattan during the week of July 21, 2025. Blunt was spotted for the first time a week later. Brammel and Hathaway were spotted filming a scene together on August 5.
Sydney Sweeney was spotted on set with Blunt on August 7. An important airport scene was shot at
Newark on September 10, 2025. Tucci and Streep filmed at
Dolce & Gabbana's
Milan Fashion Week show on September 27. Filming took place in
Milan, Italy, from October 6 to 18. In October,
Donatella Versace was seen on set filming a cameo appearance, while
Lady Gaga was announced to be having a role in the film, Ashley finished filming her scenes on October 17, 2025. Filming officially wrapped on October 20, 2025. By November 2025,
Caleb Hearon,
Helen J. Shen,
Conrad Ricamora and
Calum Harper were also announced to have been cast. In April 2026, it was revealed that Sweeney, who was meant to cameo as herself, was cut from the finished film. Some of the filming locations attracted crowds of onlookers when social media reported that scenes were being filmed there, which had not happened with the first film. According to production designer Jess Gonchor, who had been in that role for the original, it was "a mob scene" at the
American Museum of Natural History, again standing in for the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Fortunately, he says, the production needed a crowd for the scene, so it helped. A large crowd in the
Meatpacking District also watched the filming of the scene where Andy boards the
Hampton Jitney. "The shoot was the middle of summer and it was pretty special to see people embracing the movie like that. It never disrupted the filming but it did make everyone feel like the Beatles."
Sets and locations Gonchor, the production designer for the first film, returned for the sequel. The
Runway offices were again sets built at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, but this time, he told
Architectural Digest, they were eight times larger, showing the space the original was meant only to suggest. "With the new offices, we're creating more of a visual story. We opened the whole thing up so it wasn't just about Miranda and the assistants." The former
McGraw-Hill building at
1221 Avenue of the Americas again served as the exterior and lobby of the Elias-Clark building. A large room was dressed as the cafeteria. "Saying the words 'The Devil Wears Prada' opened a lot of doors for us this time around and got us access into places we hadn't been able to before", Gonchor said. In New York, that meant the production was allowed to film at the Dior boutique at 57th Street and Madison Avenue before it was opened, as well as the lobby of the
Waldorf Astoria hotel, which had been closed for six years of renovations. For Emily's office, newly-opened space in the
Hudson Yards development was used.
Marc Jacobs allowed the production into his fitting rooms. The crew got permission to use the same townhouse that had been Miranda's in the first film. While the interiors of the hotel rooms in Milan were actually in Manhattan's Woolworth Mansion, many other scenes for that part of the movie used Italian locations. The Palazzo Parigi & Grand Spa Milano, where the cast stayed while shooting, was used for the exterior and lobby, leading Tucci and Theroux to have martinis there between scenes. Lady Gaga's performance was originally planned for the
Piazza del Duomo, but was moved to the
Accademia di Brera to prevent word of Lady Gaga's appearance from spreading. The dinner scene in the refectory of
Santa Maria delle Grazie was actually filmed on a set built to three-quarters scale, including a hand-painted replication of
Leonardo da Vinci's
The Last Supper, by a team of craftsmen led by a woman who manages set design for a Roman opera house. Since they were not allowed to film the real painting, "we had to really study that thing", Gonchor says. On several private tours, "we were allowed to take our time and figure out how we wanted to replicate it—just myself and a couple other people, no crowds. It was a really special thing to get to do." After a lengthy boat tour of
Lake Como, Gonchor chose
Villa del Balbiano as Benji's villa. "[W]e knew that Emily and Benji would arrive by boat, and we also wanted viewers to see the house from the lake, too, so that they were really brought into this lavish environment. == Music ==