The first Housemaid film pulled in over $400 million on a $35 million budget. So when Lionsgate announced a sequel was coming, nobody was surprised.
But the cast they’re currently assembling? Now that’s the part worth getting genuinely excited about.
Brittany Snow has officially joined the movie adaptation of Freida McFadden’s novel, The Housemaid’s Secret, the follow-up to last year’s box office sleeper hit The Housemaid, opposite Sydney Sweeney, Kirsten Dunst, and Paul Anthony Kelly.
She will play the character Marybeth, an unassuming receptionist at the husband’s company.
The Book That Started Everything!
If somehow you haven’t read The Housemaid yet, let us fix that immediately.
The Housemaid is about Millie Calloway, who is recently out of prison and works as a live-in housemaid for the Winchesters and discovers that their perfect facade is an illusion. She then has to survive as disturbing events take place around her.
This book’s film adaptation, directed by Paul Feig and starring Sydney Sweeney as Millie and Amanda Seyfried as Nina, was released in December 2025 and was a box office success, grossing almost $400 million worldwide.
That number, on a $35 million budget, is the reason we’re talking about a sequel right now.
What Is The Housemaid’s Secret About?
The second book picks up four years after the events of the first. Here, Millie is back in a new house, with a new set of secrets staring her down.
The official synopsis sets it up perfectly:
It’s hard to find an employer who doesn’t ask too many questions about my past. So I thank my lucky stars that the Garricks miraculously give me a job, cleaning their stunning penthouse with views across the city and preparing fancy meals in their shiny kitchen. But there’s a room I’m never allowed to enter. A woman I’m never allowed to see.
The sequel picks up as Sweeney’s Millie takes a new job, this time keeping house for a woman she’s never allowed to see, only to discover the truth behind the locked door that threatens to expose secrets far darker than her own.
The Housemaid’s Secret was voted the best thriller in the 2023 Goodreads Awards. Readers described it as mind-blowing, addictive, and genuinely shocking.
The Cast That’s Making This Very Interesting
Sydney Sweeney and Michele Morrone are both returning, which is excellent. But it’s the new additions that are making this sequel feel like a genuine event.
Kirsten Dunst and Paul Anthony Kelly are playing the Garricks, the wealthy couple Millie works for this time around. Dunst as the woman behind the locked door is a casting choice that immediately raises the stakes. She is one of the most compelling and unpredictable actresses working today, and putting her opposite Sweeney in a domestic thriller is an inspired move.
And then there’s Brittany Snow as Marybeth. If you’ve seen the first film, it’s safe to assume that appearances will be deceiving and there’s likely more than meets the eye to Marybeth. An “unassuming receptionist” in a Freida McFadden story is never just an unassuming receptionist.
The full production team is equally solid. Producers are Hidden Pictures’ Todd Lieberman; Laura Fischer and Feig, who produce for Pretty Dangerous Pictures; and Sweeney, producing through her Honey Trap banner. Sweeney’s involvement as producer on the sequel means she has creative investment in where Millie’s story goes, and that’s a good sign for the character.
Screenwriter Rebecca Sonnenshine, who adapted the first book, has returned to write the sequel as well.
When Does The Housemaid’s Secret Movie Release?
Lionsgate has set a theatrical release date of December 17, 2027, with production expected to begin later in 2026.
December is exactly where you want a thriller of this scale because it is awards and holiday season simultaneously—and The Housemaid proved that audiences will absolutely show up for a dark, twisty blockbuster in the winter.
Director Paul Feig has already made his intentions for the franchise very clear. Speaking to Gold Derby earlier this year, he said:
“That’s my dream. That is my full intention. We’ll see schedule-wise if we can make it work with everybody, but that is definitely the full intention. Look, there’s three-and-a-half books in the series. The problem with the third book is there’s a big time jump, but there’s a novella in between those that could be expanded if you wanted to—but one at a time.”
Three books, a novella, and a director who wants to do all of it. Millie Calloway is not going anywhere anytime soon.
Behind the Locked Door—Read It Before December 2027
We have over a year before The Housemaid’s Secret hits theaters. If you ask me, that is more than enough time to read both books, if you haven’t yet.
Freida McFadden (Sara Cohen) built something rare with this series: a heroine who is genuinely morally complicated, a world where every polished surface hides something ugly underneath, and a plotting instinct that keeps readers completely off-balance until the final page.
Go start with The Housemaid. Read it in one sitting, which is basically the only way anyone finishes it. Then go straight into The Housemaid’s Secret. Trust me, you won’t regret it.
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