Adrian Grenier, who played Nate Cooper, the ex-boyfriend of Andy’s (Anne Hathaway) in The Devil Wears Prada, recently explained in an interview with Page Six why he isn’t reprising his role in the upcoming sequel. Grenier first explained that he would’ve loved to have been in The Devil Wears Prada 2, before explaining why he didn’t “get the call” by saying:

“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.”

From this statement, it appears that Grenier believes he wasn’t tapped to return for the sequel because of fan backlash against his character from the original film. This is something Grenier has previously discussed. In a 2021 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Grenier discussed the flaws of his character and the fan backlash his character received. Here’s what Grenier had to say:

“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.”

Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, and Stanley Tucci are all set to return in The Devil Wears Prada 2. The film will be released in theaters on May 1.