Adrian Grenier Breaks Silence on Devil Wears Prada 2 Absence — and the Backlash Behind It

Adrian Grenier reveals he won’t return for The Devil Wears Prada 2, citing backlash over his character from the 2006 hit and hinting the long-awaited sequel is moving on without Andy’s polarizing boyfriend.

Adrian Grenier says you will not see him in The Devil Wears Prada 2, and he has a pretty straightforward guess as to why. It comes down to Nate Cooper, the boyfriend he played in the 2006 original, and the way fans have felt about that guy ever since.

So why isn't he back?

Grenier didn't get the call for the sequel. He admitted he was let down by that, but he isn't shocked. The audience verdict on Nate has been loud for years: he came off as unsupportive while Andy Sachs was getting crushed by her job in fashion media.

As Grenier put it: "We're all fans of the movie, whether or not we're in it." He added that missing out stung, but he gets it, because there's been backlash around Nate for a long time.

A quick refresher on Nate and Andy

The Devil Wears Prada (2006) follows Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway), who lands a brutal assistant gig at Runway magazine under powerhouse editor Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep). As Andy throws herself into the job, her relationship with Nate Cooper starts to fray. Work wins most of the time, they split, and then share a brief reunion near the end. Over the years, fans have re-litigated that dynamic and kept landing on the same point: Nate wasn't exactly cheering Andy on.

Grenier's take on the Nate discourse

He's said before that he didn't immediately see all the layers in Nate, but after hearing people out, he understands where the criticism comes from. His own read now: "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." Not a huge leap to connect that to his absence in the sequel.

Who is coming back

• Anne Hathaway returns as Andy Sachs
• Emily Blunt is back
• Stanley Tucci returns
• Meryl Streep once again plays Miranda Priestly

The sequel is a long-awaited follow-up to a movie that still lives rent-free in a lot of people's heads. Grenier would have joined if asked, but given how the Nate conversation evolved, his read on the situation tracks.