Why Anne Hathaway’s The Devil Wears Prada 2 Won’t Have Andy’s Ex-Boyfriend Nate Returning In The Sequel

The original movie, The Devil Wears Prada, was released 20 years ago, was a great success, and has since become a cult classic that helped define fashion and workplace culture. It grossed over $320 million at the box office and led to one of the lead actresses, Meryl Streep, receiving an Oscar nomination.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 will be released in theaters on May 1, but the real questions remain, including what happened to Hathaway’s character’s ex-boyfriend, Nate, played by Adrian Grenier. In an interview with Page Six, Grenier addressed the real reason he believes he “didn’t get the call” to reprise his role as Nate Cooper, Andrea “Andy” Sachs’s on-screen love interest. Grenier began by saying he would’ve loved to participate, but there’s more to the story:

“We’re all fans of the movie, whether or not we’re in it. Obviously, it was a disappointment that I didn’t get the call to be in the sequel, but I also understand there’s some backlash with Nate, the character, so that might have something to do with it. But I think that just leaves room for a spinoff.”

Viewers were not fans of Grenier’s character, Nate, who came across as unsupportive, immature, and selfish as Andy focused on her career and slowly prioritized the high demands of Runway Magazine’s editor-in-chief, Miranda Priestly (played by Streep). In an interview with EW in 2021, Grenier acknowledged his character’s flaws and accepted how fans viewed him in the movie:

“I didn’t see some of the subtleties and the nuance of this character and what it represented in the film until the wisdom of the masses came online and started to push against the character and throw him under the bus, and I got flak.

All those memes that came out were shocking to me. It hadn’t occurred to me until I started to really think about it, and perhaps it was because I was as immature as Nate was at the time. And in many ways, he’s very selfish and self-involved; it was all about him. He wasn’t extending himself to support Andy in her career.”

At the end of The Devil Wears Prada, Nate reunites with Andy before he reveals he’s been offered a job in Chicago, leading the couple to part ways. With the sequel focusing on Andy’s professional glow-up as she returns to Priestly, it’s unclear what her relationship status is, but perhaps that could unfold throughout the movie, although one of the greatest things about it is watching powerful women thrive without needing a partner.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 will be available to watch in theaters on May 1.