Introduction
It took just three weeks. That’s how long after The Housemaid hit theaters before Lionsgate greenlit its sequel — a rare, near-instant vote of confidence that speaks to just how big Freida McFadden’s psychological thriller franchise has become. The Housemaid’s Secret, based on the second book in McFadden’s bestselling trilogy, is now officially in development, with most of the original film’s key cast and crew expected to return.
Quick Facts
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Based On | The Housemaid’s Secret (2023) by Freida McFadden |
| Book Series Position | Book 2 of 3 (plus a short story) |
| Studio | Lionsgate |
| Producers | Todd Lieberman, Carly Elter, Alex Young (Hidden Pictures); Paul Feig, Laura Fischer (Pretty Dangerous Pictures) |
| Executive Producer | Freida McFadden |
| Expected Cast | Sydney Sweeney (Millie Calloway), Michele Morrone (Enzo Accardi) |
| Production Start | Expected 2026 |
| Release Date | Late 2027 |
| Predecessor | The Housemaid (released December 19, 2025) |
| Predecessor Box Office | $401.7 million worldwide (on a $35M budget) |
| Predecessor RT Score | 74-77% Critics / 91-92% Audience (“Verified Hot”) |
Why This Sequel Happened So Fast
The Housemaid, directed by Paul Feig and starring Sydney Sweeney as Millie and Amanda Seyfried as her wealthy, mysterious employer Nina, became enough of a success that Lionsgate moved almost immediately to continue the franchise — announcing The Housemaid’s Secret‘s greenlight just three weeks after the first film’s release. Freida McFadden herself remains closely involved as an executive producer across the franchise, a role reportedly meant to help preserve her vision for the story as it moves to the screen.
How The Housemaid (2025) Ends — And Sets Up the Sequel
Major spoilers for the first film ahead. The Housemaid opens like a fairly typical psychological thriller: Millie, fresh out of a decade in prison, takes a live-in housemaid job with the wealthy Winchester family — Nina, her husband Andrew, and their young daughter Cece — at their Long Island mansion. Nina initially seems like the film’s antagonist: cruel, volatile, and increasingly hostile toward Millie, even framing her for theft and threatening her fragile parole status. Andrew, by contrast, appears to be the calm, protective one, and after a blowout fight, he kicks Nina out of the house entirely and begins a relationship with Millie.
Then the film pulls a Gone Girl-style reframing: it turns out Nina had engineered the entire situation. Knowing Andrew was abusive, Nina deliberately placed Millie in his path as bait and a distraction, planning to use the resulting chaos as her own escape route from a controlling, dangerous marriage. Andrew, not Nina, was the real monster of the house all along. In the climax, Millie and Nina join forces against him, and Andrew dies after being pushed over a stairwell railing — with the two women agreeing to cover up his death together.
In the aftermath, Nina legally inherits the family’s assets and relocates to California with Cece, but not before handing Millie a substantial payout (reported as $100,000) as thanks for her part in ending Andrew’s abuse. The film’s final scene is the real sequel setup: Millie is shown interviewing for a new housemaid position, and the woman interviewing her mentions she comes highly recommended by Nina — while visibly displaying bruises on her wrists, strongly implying she’s suffering abuse from her own husband. The clear implication is that Millie is about to do this again, this time by choice rather than chance, positioning her as someone who now seeks out and helps women trapped in abusive marriages.
Notably, the film’s ending changes meaningfully from the book. In McFadden’s original novel, Andrew doesn’t get pushed to his death — Millie instead leaves him locked in the attic to die of thirst, and it’s Nina who later discovers his body when she returns home. The book’s ending also differs in Millie’s future: rather than the ambiguous “next job” setup from the film, the novel has Millie team up directly with groundskeeper Enzo (Michele Morrone’s character) to form a support network helping women escape abusive relationships — which lines up with Enzo’s confirmed return in the sequel.
The Housemaid (2025): The Breakout Hit Behind the Sequel
To understand why Lionsgate moved so fast, it helps to know just how big the first film became. Directed by Paul Feig and starring Sydney Sweeney as Millie, Amanda Seyfried as her wealthy employer Nina, and Brandon Sklenar as Andrew Winchester, The Housemaid released December 19, 2025, against a modest $35 million budget — and went on to gross $401.7 million worldwide, officially becoming Sydney Sweeney’s highest-grossing film ever, surpassing even her small role in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ($393 million with re-release).
The win mattered enormously for Sweeney specifically. 2025 had been a rough year for her at the box office — Americana, Eden, and Christy all underperformed badly, with Christy posting the worst second-weekend drop (92%) tracked that year. The Housemaid alone outgrossed all three of those films combined within its first three days in theaters, marking a genuine career turnaround.
Critical reception was strong, if not universal: the film holds a Certified Fresh score in the mid-70s percent range on Rotten Tomatoes (reports vary between 74-77%), alongside an unusually high “Verified Hot” audience score in the low-90s — one of the strongest divides between “solid critical reception” and “audiences loved it” for any film that year. ScreenRant’s review specifically praised “Feig’s light touch and Seyfried’s committed performance,” calling it “one of the most fun movies of 2025.” Reviewers frequently compared its tone to 1980s and ’90s erotic thrillers like Single White Female and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, and while Amanda Seyfried’s performance was singled out as the film’s clear standout, Sydney Sweeney’s acting divided opinion more sharply among critics and audiences alike.
Crucially, the film’s ending was explicitly built to set up more story — Feig himself has teased that “Millie is not done yet,” a tagline that turned out to be literal once The Housemaid’s Secret‘s greenlight was announced just weeks later.
What The Housemaid’s Secret Is About
Picking up after the events of the first book, the story follows Millie Calloway — a convicted felon who served a decade in prison for a murder she committed defending a friend — as she starts a new job in the Garrick household, working for Douglas and Wendy Garrick. Millie is determined to leave her past behind and build an honest new life, but she quickly finds herself pulled into a fresh web of secrets and deception within her new employers’ home, drawing on the same instincts and hard-won survival skills from her past. The novel was voted Best Thriller at the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards and works both as a direct sequel and, according to reviewers, a suitable entry point for readers new to the series.
Expected Cast
Sydney Sweeney is expected to reprise her role as Millie Calloway, continuing her arc from the first film, alongside co-star Michele Morrone returning as Enzo Accardi. No other cast details, including whether Amanda Seyfried or Brandon Sklenar will factor into the sequel given the story’s shift to the Garrick household, have been confirmed as of this writing.
Part of a Much Bigger McFadden Adaptation Wave
The Housemaid’s Secret is just one piece of a much larger push to bring Freida McFadden’s thriller catalog to screens:
- The Teacher — McFadden’s 2024 novel about a school rocked by scandal, in development at Apple Original Films with the screenwriting-directing duo behind Tarot attached.
- Never Lie — Acquired by Netflix in 2024, following newlyweds who move into a house once owned by a psychiatrist who mysteriously vanished.
- The Tenant — Rights acquired by Amazon MGM Studios’ United Artists, with producer Scott Stuber involved.
- Dear Debbie — McFadden’s most recent novel (released January 2026), already being adapted for television by Amazon MGM Studios.
Why You Should Be Excited
- If you enjoyed the first film’s blend of pulpy tension and dark humor, this sequel promises more of the same twisty, high-stakes domestic thriller territory.
- Sydney Sweeney’s continued involvement means real narrative and tonal continuity from the first film.
- McFadden’s direct involvement as executive producer across the franchise suggests genuine care in translating her books faithfully.
- The rapid turnaround from greenlight to expected release shows real studio confidence in the franchise’s box office potential.
- It’s part of a much wider adaptation wave, meaning fans of McFadden’s writing have multiple projects to look forward to beyond just this sequel.
Final Verdict
The Housemaid’s Secret is moving from page to screen with real studio momentum behind it — greenlit within weeks of its predecessor’s release, backed by a returning star in Sydney Sweeney, and produced under McFadden’s own watchful eye as executive producer. With a late 2027 release on the horizon and an entire slate of McFadden adaptations following close behind, this looks set to be just the beginning of her thrillers’ takeover of the screen.
FAQs
How does the first Housemaid movie end? Nina reveals she engineered the entire situation, using Millie as bait to escape her abusive husband Andrew. The two women team up, and Andrew dies falling from a stairwell. Nina inherits the family’s assets and pays Millie off, while the final scene shows Millie interviewing for a new housemaid job with a woman who shows signs of being abused herself — setting up her new path helping women escape dangerous marriages.
Does the movie ending match the book? Not exactly. In the novel, Andrew dies of thirst after Millie leaves him locked in the attic, rather than falling from a stairwell, and the book ends with Millie teaming up directly with groundskeeper Enzo to help abused women, rather than the more ambiguous movie ending.
When does The Housemaid’s Secret release? Late 2027, according to Lionsgate’s announcement.
Is Sydney Sweeney returning for the sequel? Yes, she’s expected to reprise her role as Millie Calloway, also serving as an executive producer.
What book is The Housemaid’s Secret movie based on? Freida McFadden’s 2023 novel of the same name, the second book in her Housemaid trilogy.
Do I need to read or watch The Housemaid first? Not necessarily — the novel is designed to work as both a sequel and a standalone entry point, though watching the first film will give useful character context.
Who is directing The Housemaid’s Secret? Director details have not been confirmed as of this writing; Paul Feig directed the first film and remains attached as a producer through his Pretty Dangerous Pictures banner.
What is Freida McFadden’s real name? The author revealed her real name is Sara Cohen, disclosed in an interview after years of maintaining anonymity under her pen name.
How successful was the first Housemaid movie? Very successful — it grossed $401.7 million worldwide against a $35 million budget, becoming Sydney Sweeney’s highest-grossing film ever and marking a major career turnaround after a string of 2025 box office disappointments.
Are there other Freida McFadden adaptations in the works? Yes — The Teacher (Apple Original Films), Never Lie (Netflix), The Tenant (Amazon MGM Studios), and Dear Debbie (Amazon MGM Studios TV series) are all in various stages of development.
Yes — The Teacher (Apple Original Films), Never Lie (Netflix), The Tenant (Amazon MGM Studios), and Dear Debbie (Amazon MGM Studios TV series) are all in various stages of development.
Is there a third Housemaid book that could also be adapted? Yes, The Housemaid Is Watching is the third novel in the trilogy, alongside a companion short story, “The Housemaid’s Wedding” — either could plausibly continue the franchise if this sequel performs well.