Devil Wears Prada 2 Adrian Grenier: Why Adrian Grenier’s Character Was Omitted from the Sequel
The Devil Wears Prada 2 Adrian Grenier situation is not the story most fans assumed it was. Director David Frankel did not quietly decide Nate was dispensable. He actively tried to get Grenier back, had a specific cameo idea ready to go, and lost the battle to a production schedule so tight the film wrapped less than a month before its May 1, 2026 release. And as it turns out, Grenier was not the only one left on the cutting room floor. Here is the full story. Devil Wears Prada 2 Adrian Grenier: What the Director Actually Said David Frankel told Entertainment Weekly: “I had an idea about sneaking him into a cameo, and in the end, it was just too late in our production schedule to make it happen.” Principal photography took place from June to October 2025 in Manhattan and Milan, with additional filming in Newark, New Jersey. Post-production ran right up to the April 20 premiere at Lincoln Center, leaving no room to add anything new. What makes this more interesting than a typical casting story is what Frankel refused to say next. When Entertainment Weekly asked what the cameo would have involved, he replied: “I probably shouldn’t say.” So the specific plan stays locked away, and fans are left with a genuinely open question: where exactly would Nate have appeared? Frankel also praised Grenier’s Starbucks commercial, calling it “really funny and so self-effacing,” adding: “I love the humility and the comedy of it!” That commercial, in which Grenier leaned directly into the joke of being left out, clearly earned genuine admiration from the director. The key thing fans need to understand: this was a scheduling failure. Not a creative rejection of the character. Just a production that ran too close to the wire. Read more: Backrooms A24 Movie: How Kane Parsons Brilliantly Turned a YouTube Series Into a Must-See Horror Film How Was Nate Going to Appear in the Sequel? Frankel is not saying, and that is probably the right call. Whatever he had in mind, the organic space for a Nate moment exists naturally within the sequel’s setup. Andy returns to Runway Magazine 20 years after walking away from Miranda in Paris. A brief, unexpected crossing of paths with her former boyfriend would have landed as exactly the kind of quiet, emotionally loaded cameo that sequels do best when they get it right. Production schedules kill genuinely good creative ideas all the time. This one just happened to kill a moment that millions of fans would have talked about for weeks. What Adrian Grenier Said About Devil Wears Prada 2 Adrian Grenier / Source: Original photography David Shankbone / Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. Grenier has spoken about his absence in two separate interviews, and both times his response has been more self-aware and dignified than most actors manage in similar situations. In March 2026 he told Us Magazine: “I would be bitter if I wasn’t so absolutely thrilled for Anne and the crew, and excited for the sequel myself. Obviously I was disappointed, but you know, I can’t be in everything.” He added: “Andy’s moving up, and I get it. Nate’s the devil, according to some people. I hope they invite me to the premiere at least, come on!” He told Page Six 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.” He added: “We’re all fans of the movie, whether or not we’re in it.” That is a gracious response from someone who had every reason to be publicly bitter. Why Fans Have Never Fully Forgiven Nate The internet has been relitigating Nate’s behavior since approximately 2015 and shows zero signs of stopping. The core grievance is straightforward: he made Andy feel guilty for pursuing a career she loved, framed her professional ambition as a personal betrayal, and treated her success at Runway as a moral failing rather than an achievement. Rewatched through a 2026 lens, his behavior reads even more poorly than it did in 2006. Grenier acknowledged this directly and publicly, which is a disarming move. The Starbucks commercial was the smartest possible way to handle it: get ahead of the joke, own it fully, and come out looking better than Nate ever managed on screen. The Other Scrapped Cameo: What Happened to Sydney Sweeney Sydney Sweeney / Source: Original photography by Raph_PH / Licensed under CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons. Grenier was not the only notable absence from the final cut. Sydney Sweeney filmed a roughly three-minute scene near the top of the movie in which she played herself, being dressed for an event by Emily Blunt’s character. The scene served to introduce Emily Charlton’s new role as head of Dior’s United States operation. But according to Entertainment Weekly, a “creative decision” was made to remove the scene because it did not fit structurally within the sequence. The filmmakers described the decision as difficult and said they appreciated Sweeney’s involvement. Sweeney was not the only one. Anna Wintour visited the Milan set, where Frankel captured her in what he called a “gag take” that will appear as a bonus feature on streaming. Wintour got ahead of her cue, leaving the shot partially out of focus. “I can’t ask Anna to do take two,” Frankel told the Back Row podcast. Two scrapped cameos, one scheduling failure, one structural cut. The Devil Wears Prada 2 left a trail of almost-moments behind it. What Is Devil Wears Prada 2 Actually About? The sequel arrives in theaters on May 1, 2026, reuniting Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci. New cast additions include Patrick Brammall as Andy’s new love interest, Simone Ashley, Justin Theroux, Kenneth Branagh, Lucy Liu, B.J. Novak, Rachel Bloom, Pauline Chalamet, and Lady Gaga. The first teaser trailer



