Entertainment

Emily Blunt's Reason For Not Wanting A 'Devil Wears Prada' Sequel Is Hard To Disagree With

If you've found yourself crossing your fingers more and more tightly for a follow-up to the original over the years, there's good news and there's bad news. The bad news is, Emily Blunt doesn't want a Devil Wears Prada sequel. But the good news is, as jarring as that statement may seem, if you read why she thinks that, she actually makes a great point.

The 35-year-old actor told People that she doesn't see the need to turn the 2006 film into a franchise. Not because it isn't good enough to support such a move, but actually because it's so special that it stands alone. "If everyone did it I would be up for it," she told the magazine. But she was quick to add,

"I almost hope it doesn’t [happen] because I think sometimes when you sequel everything kind of dilutes how special the original is."

There's a lot to unpack in that statement, so don't leap to any wild conclusions yet. First of all, she makes it clear that she's as much of a fan of the film as everyone else. And potentially even more so, because she got to experience it both offscreen and onscreen. Describing the filming process in the April 6 interview, she said, "We all just wept with laughter. I loved working with sweet Annie Hathaway and it was my first experience working Meryl [Streep] and Stanley Tucci who is now my brother-in-law.”

At the end of the day, Blunt has more reasons than almost anyone else to love The Devil Wears Prada, which seems to be exactly why she's so protective of it. She's not only deservedly proud of the finished project, and her hilarious turn as Miranda Priestly's endlessly cranky (yet efficient) assistant Emily, but even her experience working on the film sounds like a dream. As Blunt pointed out herself, how often do you get the opportunity to work with two Oscar winners who are also known for being a delight to be around, and her own future brother-in-law? (Tucci married Emily's sister Felicity Blunt in 2012 after meeting her at his former costar's 2010 wedding to John Krasinski.)

It sounds like a near-perfect experience, and when you stumble upon something like that, it's going to be hard to improve upon. As much as fans want a sequel now, isn't Blunt right? Wouldn't it taint the original if a sequel did come out, but it paled in comparison to the first film? The Quiet Place actor is really just looking out for everyone's best interests on this one, much like Jennifer Aniston was when she said that a Friends reboot wouldn't work because everyone's too obsessed with their phones now. Sigh.

But, before you give up hope, don't forget the first thing that Blunt said in Friday's interview — that if everyone else was on board, she would sign on as well. And since this cast very much has their heads screwed on straight, the takeaway from this should be that there won't be a Devil Wears Prada sequel... unless it's good enough to stand up to the original. Because Streep, Blunt, Hathaway, and Tucci are smart cookies, and even more interested in protecting the legacy of this film than the rest of its fans.

It would be almost impossible to top or even match the success of the original, which raked in $326 million in worldwide earnings and an Oscar nomination for Streep. So if you see a reboot in the works with all the original actors signed on, including Blunt, that means they've done it, and you can scamper to the theater without fear. Because as this interview makes clear, Blunt isn't signing on for anything less than perfection.