A Movie Adaptation Of The Housemaid Is On Its Way

Freida McFadden’s thrilling novel The Housemaid is a New York Times bestseller and bagged the 2022 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Mystery & Thriller – so it was only a matter of time before it was adapted for the screen. And luckily for fans of the book, it looks like it will be a biggie. Here’s everything we know so far.

The Housemaid: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

Yesterday, Deadline exclusively revealed that Lionsgate had closed a deal with Sydney Sweeney to star in new thriller The Housemaid, with Amanda Seyfried in final talks to join her. Paul Feig has signed on to direct the flick, with a screenplay by Rebecca Sonnenshine based on McFadden’s novel of the same name. Sweeney will star as the titular housemaid, while Seyfried will star as her wealthy boss…

‘I’m thrilled to have The Housemaid join our upcoming slate,’ Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, shared. ‘A great filmmaker and a great cast with a great script from a great book is a terrific place to start. My prior work experiences with Paul and Amanda have been nothing short of spectacular, and Sydney is as talented and compelling as can be.’

The Housemaid, first published in spring 2022, is an incredibly successful title. Now translated into 40 languages and having sold more than 3.6 million copies in English alone, the title has sat on the New York Times bestseller list for 75 weeks and counting, and on the Amazon bestseller list for 98 weeks and counting. It also came in at number two on Kindle’s 10th anniversary most-read list, pipped only by J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. McFadden has since penned two follow-up novels: The Housemaid’s Secret (2023) and The Housemaid is Watching (2024).

Sweeney recently starred in the successful rom-com, Anyone But You. (L-R: Glen Powell as Ben and Sydney Sweeney as Beau in Anyone But You/Sony)

What Is The Housemaid About?

The Housemaid centres on Millie (Sweeney), a struggling woman who is relieved to bag a new job working as a housemaid to wealthy couple Nina (Seyfried) and Andrew. With a tumultuous past behind her, Millie soon realises this picture-perfect family’s secrets are far darker than her own.

The novel is told from Millie’s perspective, and we assume the film will follow suit. The synopsis reads as follows:

‘Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.

I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.

But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.

They don’t know what I’m capable of…’

Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes in The Dropout. (Hulu)

The Cast

So far, only Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried are confirmed to star, playing Millie and Nina respectively. Sweeney is best known for starring in HBO’s Euphoria and The White Lotus as well as recent hit rom-com Anyone But You. Seyfried, meanwhile, rose to fame thanks to roles in Mean Girls (2004), Mamma Mia! (2008) and Les Miserables (2012), and most recently Searchlight Television’s Elizabeth Holmes series, The Dropout (2022).

‘Part of the fun of the book was imagining the cast while we read it, and Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried are perfect for Millie and Nina – they’re both mysterious, nuanced, and incredibly skilled at becoming characters who don’t reveal everything right away,’ Erin Westerman, co-president of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, commented. ‘We’re thrilled to team them with Paul Feig, who we worked with on A Simple Favor and its upcoming sequel, and has a proven track record of developing stories with dynamic female leads.’

The Housemaid Release Date

No news just yet on when The Housemaid will arrive on our screens, but we think we have a while to wait. We will update this page when we know more.

Read It

The Housemaid is published by Little, Brown in the UK. hachette.co.uk