The Housemaid Ending: Millie’s Final Move Sets the Stage for the Sequel

Heads up: spoilers ahead. The Housemaid starts like a classy psychological slow burn and then veers hard into revenge-thriller territory. What looks like a story about a messed-up household and a fragile new maid slowly flips itself inside out, and by the end, the power dynamic is not what you think it is.

The twist: who is actually pulling the strings

Sydney Sweeney plays Millie, a parolee with nowhere to live and no safety net, just trying to hang onto a job. Amanda Seyfried is Nina, the unstable, icy wife. Brandon Sklenar is Andrew, the clean-cut husband who presents like the reasonable adult in the room. Except he isn’t. He’s the problem.

Once the movie gets to its reveal, we find out Nina deliberately hired Millie. Not by chance. Not out of kindness. Strategy. She needed Andrew to fixate on someone else, someone he could feel heroic about 'saving', and Millie’s situation made her unlikely to quit: criminal record, on parole, broke. Nina pushes and provokes to redirect Andrew’s attention, and it works. It’s a cold calculation, and yes, she knowingly put Millie in harm’s way. But Nina also knew Millie had a spine. Millie once stopped a sexual assault nobody believed happened, which told Nina she could fight back if it came to that.

In the climax, Millie turns Andrew’s own punishment methods on him. There’s a struggle, he goes down the staircase, and that’s it for Mr. Perfect. Nina helps stage the death as an accident. The female cop on the scene doesn’t press too hard. The women walk away.

So why is Andrew like this?

Andrew’s violence isn’t hot-headed. It’s organized. He’s obsessed with control, aesthetics, and consequences, and he hides behind polite restraint until he doesn’t. The tells are all over his upbringing: a mother consumed with appearances and punishment, the kind of environment that bakes ritual into personality. He locks women in the attic, demands proof of submission, and conducts cruelty like a ceremony. The scariest part is how well he blends in; he reads as credible by default, so nobody questions him.

What the movie is actually saying

The Housemaid is about power and who gets believed. Andrew gets automatic credibility; Millie and Nina get none. Nina is dismissed as unstable. Millie is tagged as dangerous. That imbalance is the whole machine. The movie also makes a pretty blunt case for solidarity: alone, neither of them can beat Andrew. Together, they do. It’s not neat, noble, or clean. It’s effective.

Book vs. movie: the big swings

The adaptation mostly sticks to Freida McFadden’s 2022 novel, but the film cranks up the physical brutality, especially around Andrew’s treatment of Millie. The death is different too. In the book, Andrew dies locked in the attic, starving. The movie goes for the explosive confrontation on the stairs.

Enzo, a key ally in the novel (he helps Nina plan her escape and later teams with Millie to help other abused women), is scaled way down on screen. And where the book leaves Millie’s ending more ambiguous with a clear sequel tease, the movie still points that way but in a cleaner, cinematic button.

The sequel setup

After Nina cuts her a very generous check, Millie gets recommended for another job with another wealthy woman. The vibe screams troubled marriage. The suggestion is obvious: this could be Millie’s new lane. Not just surviving households like this, but dismantling them. If the film leans into it, you’ve got a nasty, compelling anthology path about predator-rich homes and the woman who walks in knowing the assignment. That lines up with where the book series goes, continuing Millie’s story.

Quick facts

• Director: Paul Feig
• Screenplay: Rebecca Sonnenshine
• Based on: Novel by Freida McFadden (2022)
• Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried, Brandon Sklenar, Michele Morrone, Elizabeth Perkins, Mark Grossman
• Genre: Psychological thriller
• Production company: Hidden Pictures
• Distributor: Lionsgate
• Theatrical release: December 19, 2025
• Release territories: United States and Canada
• IMDb: 6.8/10
• Rotten Tomatoes: 78% critics, 92% audience

Bottom line

The last act reframes everything. Millie stops being the victim and becomes the counterpunch. It’s a sharp little rebellion against the smooth, hidden cruelty of men like Andrew, and a story that takes women who don’t get believed and gives them the final word.

Did the twist floor you, or did you sniff it out early? The Housemaid is currently in theaters in the U.S. One note: the listed theatrical date is December 19, 2025, which doesn’t exactly match 'playing now' territory, so expect some scheduling weirdness or updated rollout info.