{"id":571534,"date":"2026-05-07T18:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T18:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/571534\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T18:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T18:40:14","slug":"whats-the-point-of-andys-boyfriend-in-devil-wears-prada-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/571534\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the point of Andy\u2019s boyfriend in Devil Wears Prada 2?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Friday, I went to see The Devil Wears Prada 2. I was in a screening with the post-work crowd at the beginning of a bank holiday, which meant Prosecco bottles, whooping, and the audience cackling at trite lines of dialogue during the film\u2019s emotional climax.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot to unpack from the movie, which reckons with the current magazine apocalypse, editorial pay-for-play, and the degradation of journalism at large. Its main preoccupation is the frustrated ambition of a media class whose dreams of a glossy career in fashion writing have shattered over years of lay-offs, down-sizing, dwindling budgets, and late invoices. For journalists like me, it\u2019s a horror film, but in reality it\u2019s a fluff film, so plucky millennial optimism somehow wins out over the tech oligarchy.<\/p>\n

As a sex and relationships journalist, what interested me is the film\u2019s subversion of the romance plot. This is a Career film, with a capital C; not a romance. Anne Hathaway\u2019s Andy Sachs is currently child-free (she notes she has frozen her eggs) and single, feeling little compulsion to find a partner. It\u2019s refreshing to acknowledge that a relationship is not the only way to find meaning in life. Your purpose can also be creativity, good friends, and holding onto your choice of career by your finger nails.<\/p>\n

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James Devaney\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting, however, that Andy does have a male love interest in the film; even if you might not remember the poor guy\u2019s name. But that\u2019s by design: Peter, played by Patrick Brammall, is as one-dimensional as they come (no shade to Brammall, he was written that way). All we know about him is that he is a) Australian, b) works in construction, renovating (see: ruining) old buildings, c) is divorced, and d) really, really likes Andy.<\/p>\n

To me, this is intriguing for a number of reasons. Firstly, in contemporary readings of the original 2006 film, Andy\u2019s boyfriend Nate (played by Adrian Grenier) is considered to be a villain, threatened by her ambition and freshly-acquired designer clothes. Rather than risk a repeat, it seems like the creators of the sequel decided to swap Nate for a paper-thin man whose sole function is to remind us that employed, single men do exist.<\/p>\n

Secondly, Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns, Lauren Weisberger\u2019s follow-up to the novel on which the franchise is based, is steeped in the wedding planning industrial complex: so much so that Andy literally winds up editing a wedding magazine. Rather than make the cinematic Andy as flimsy and romance-obsessed as her chicklit originator, the film version has relegated her love interest to mere window dressing. A win for feminism, I guess?<\/p>\n

Everyone’s clicking on…<\/p>\n

In many ways, the cinematic sequel to The Devil Wears Prada is about subverting the youthful optimism of its original: the characters are older, wiser, and reckoning with the fact their lives aren\u2019t following some idealised, fairytale trajectory. With that in mind, the film depicts a number of relationships that reckon with the complex, multifaceted nature of juggling work, love, divorce, and family in 2026. <\/p>\n

Andy\u2019s bestie Lily (reprised by Tracie Thoms), for one, is a successful gallerist in her 40s and the single mother to young children. There\u2019s Emily (Emily Blunt), who\u2019s juggling her fixer-upper billionaire boyfriend (Justin Theroux) alongside a high-powered fashion job and a tetchy co-parenting situation with her ex. And, after going through a crushing divorce at the end of the first film (which is implied to be, at least partly, due to her workaholic ways) Miranda (Meryl Streep) has found love with a new, endlessly supportive husband Stuart (Kenneth Branagh), a man who must be in the top 1% for emotional maturity.<\/p>\n

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Jason Howard\/Bauer-Griffin\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

With all of these different roadmaps for relationships, it\u2019s difficult to comprehend why, exactly, Andy needed her one-dimensional boyfriend at all. What would be so wrong with a woman who isn\u2019t looking for love? Why do we expect her to throw herself back on the dating market the second a nice man comes along?<\/p>\n

After all, Andy\u2019s job situation is challenging to the point of being untenable \u2014 it\u2019s hard to imagine she would have the bandwidth to think of dating as a priority. And, beyond the complexities of Andy\u2019s career, there\u2019s also the small fact that being in a relationship isn\u2019t compulsory. Why, in 2026, are we still so scared of a woman who is proudly single and child-free?<\/p>\n

An abbreviated version of this article was originally published on PULP on Substack<\/a>, a zine by Megan Wallace<\/a> that unpacks the world of sexuality through musings on eros in culture and dispatches from the worlds of BDSM, fetish, and non-monogamy.<\/p>\n

Related Stories\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Megan Wallace (they\/them) is Cosmopolitan UK\u2019s Former Sex and Relationships Editor covering sexual pleasure, sex toys, LGBTQIA+ identity, dating and romance. They have covered sexuality and relationships for over five years and are the founder of the PULP zine<\/a>, which publishes essays on culture and sex. In their spare time, they can be found exploring the London kink scene and planning dates on Feeld.\u00a0<\/p>\n