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Freida McFadden thinks her own twisty thriller just got out‑twisted by Hollywood.
Speaking at the New York premiere of The Housemaid film, the bestselling author revealed that director Paul Feig and the creative team didn’t just copy her book’s infamous finale—they amped it up. The psychological thriller, starring Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar, hits theaters Dec. 19 and is based on McFadden’s blockbuster novel of the same name.
“More action” and a new twist on the twist
McFadden told E! News that the adaptation leans into a more kinetic climax than readers might expect.
“They made some changes to the end,” she said. “I actually think it’s better. It’s more action, which I think works a lot better on the big screen.”
In the novel, ex-con Millie Calloway takes a live‑in job with wealthy couple Nina and Andrew Winchester, only to discover that Nina’s erratic, cruel behavior masks something far darker. The book’s late‑stage reveals turned McFadden into a must‑read name for domestic‑suspense fans, and they’ve helped push The Housemaid to massive popularity on BookTok and beyond.
Sweeney, who plays Millie, said she was hooked from her first read of the script. “This is so delicious… this would be the funnest thing everybody gets to do,” she recalled, noting that she was “in from day one.”
Paul Feig finds the “funny and disturbing” sweet spot
Though Feig is best known for comedies like Bridesmaids, McFadden said he nailed the tone she imagined for her book. “He’s that mix of funny and disturbing,” she said. “I love him. He’s my favorite director right now.”
Feig, for his part, was eager to jump genres, telling E! News he practically begged to direct: “I know you think I’m a comedy director—I have to do this movie. I know how to do it.”
The Housemaid arrives in the middle of a broader boom in book‑to‑screen thrillers. Netflix brought Ruth Ware’s cruise‑ship chiller The Woman in Cabin 10 to screens in 2025, while Amazon MGM backed psychological thriller Holland, and festival favorite Die My Love has underscored just how much prestige the genre now commands.[1][2][3]
Our own coverage of this wave—from Maggie O’Farrell watching Hamnet leap from page to screen to Benedict Cumberbatch’s eerie new crow‑haunted adaptation—shows how differently filmmakers are handling beloved books in 2025.
Her verdict predates the premiere. In a September Instagram post, McFadden wrote that she turned to her husband as the credits rolled and said, “Omg, I think it was better than the book!” — and that he agreed. She is an executive producer on the Lionsgate film, which gave her a close view of the changes as they were made, and she told People she does not mind whether fans watch or read first.
The scale behind that goodwill is considerable. The Housemaid alone has sold more than two million copies and helped drive over 4.5 million sales across the trilogy — The Housemaid, The Housemaid’s Secret and The Housemaid Is Watching — with more than 80 weeks on bestseller lists, an International Thriller Writers award, and a Goodreads Choice Award for the sequel.
Why thriller readers will want to compare endings
For McFadden’s devoted readership, the real suspense now isn’t just what happens to Millie and the Winchesters, but how the film’s altered ending reframes those characters. In an era when fans scrutinize every change—from added romance beats to stripped‑down subplots—McFadden’s open endorsement of a punchier finale is notable.
With studios betting big on psychological suspense and authors increasingly involved in adaptations, The Housemaid looks poised to become a key test case: when is a wilder, more action‑driven ending not a betrayal of the book, but an upgrade tailored to the big screen?
We’ll find out when The Housemaid opens in theaters Dec. 19.
