How Author Freida McFadden Feels About Sydney Sweeney's The Housemaid Adaptation

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In December 2025, Paul Feig adapted "The Housemaid" — based on the best-selling novel by Freida McFadden — and the movie took the world by storm, becoming a bona fide box office sensation and earning a solid review right here at /Film. So what does McFadden think of Feig's adaptation, which stars Amanda Seyfried, Sydney Sweeney, and Brandon Sklenar? 

She loved it. In an interview with SheReads, McFadden soundly praised Feig's interpretation of her story — in which Sweeney's Millie Calloway, fresh out of prison, takes a job as a housemaid for Andrew and Nina Winchester (Sklenar and Seyfried) and their daughter, only to discover that there's something dark going on in that house. "I was completely blown away. At one point, I was tearing up over what a great job they did," McFadden revealed. "When I first saw the whole movie with my family, on the way home, we couldn't stop talking about how good it was. Even my teenagers loved it, and they are notoriously very hard to please."

In fact, McFadden said there was one aspect of her novel that Feig maintained perfectly. "One thing I hadn't been sure about was if the movie would capture the humor in the thriller, but I shouldn't have worried because [Feig] delivered." 

So how does McFadden think the movie stacks up against the book, quality-wise? She actually said she thinks the movie might be ... better. "I recognize most authors don't say things like that, but it was the first thing I blurted out to my husband when the lights came back on in the theater. And he agreed!" McFadden revealed. "Without giving anything away, the ending of the movie was what won me over." So what about the main cast of "The Housemaid?" McFadden loved them too.

Freida McFadden loved the cast of The Housemaid

I'm a big fan of Paul Feig's body of work — catch me rewatching "A Simple Favor" with a crisp, dry gin martini on a lazy Friday night — and I personally love the way he casts his films. Apparently, Freida McFadden agrees with me, because she, like me, loved Amanda Seyfried, Brandon Sklenar, and Sydney Sweeney as Nina, Andrew, and Millie, the main trio of the story.

"Honestly, every single one of them completely surpassed my expectations for their roles. The first scene I got to watch was an intense one featuring [Seyfried and Sklenar], and I had chills," McFadden said of watching some early clips of the movie based on her book. "When I got to see the entire movie months later, I was so impressed by all of their performances. I am so grateful to the cast for giving 110% to their roles." McFadden is definitely right; the main actors, especially the perennially talented Seyfried, commit fully to their performances, which gives the movie some actual weight even when the admittedly silly plot gets a little over-the-top.

McFadden also said she went to set and hung out with Feig, Sweeney, Sklenar, Seyfried, and Michele Morrone (who plays Nina and Andrew's gardener, Enzo, who tries to warn Millie about the couple's secrets). "I also loved how genuinely kind they all were when I met them on the set," McFadden recalled. [Sweeney] randomly jumped into a photo I was in, and I cried a bit when I saw her because it really felt like she was Millie come to life." Luckily for McFadden, more "Housemaid" movies are coming ... and Sweeney is set to return as her picture-perfect heroine, Millie.

The Housemaid is definitely getting a sequel

In early 2026, news broke that "The Housemaid" is officially getting a sequel based on Freida McFadden's literary sequel "The Housemaid's Secret" — and even though Amanda Seyfried's character likely won't appear in it, Sydney Sweeney is set to return (as is director Paul Feig). Seyfried's absence will likely be due to the fact that — spoiler alert! — the big reveal in the first movie centers around the fact that Brandon Sklenar's Andrew is an extraordinarily abusive husband who routinely locks his wife, Nina, in their house's attic room and forces her to perform torturous tasks like collecting 100 strands of hair from the root. 

That's where Sweeney's Millie comes in. Nina essentially uses Millie, who's fresh out of prison for manslaughter when the Winchesters hire her, to unwittingly seduce and then torment Andrew; while this sounds extremely messed up, Nina's point is that she knows Millie can hold her own against Andrew. She does, incidentally, turn out to be correct.

Nina and her daughter start a new life together at the end of "The Housemaid," but the movie's ending leaves audiences with a tantalizing taste of where Millie's story could go next. Essentially, in McFadden's books, Millie becomes a sort of husband hunter for hire who works for women in dangerous situations and ... disposes of their awful spouses, and we see "The Housemaid" hint at this in its final moments when a woman bearing signs of physical abuse asks Millie if she can "help" her. Thankfully for McFadden and fans of "The Housemaid," Millie's story will continue ... and it's heartening to know that the author is happy with how Feig is crafting these adaptations.