A psychological thriller that gripped the world a couple of years ago, the bestselling novel The Housemaid is getting the Hollywood treatment and is being adapted for the screen. We can expect the film to land on screens on Christmas Day 2025, setting us up for a festive but eerie treat next year.

Written by Freida McFadden, the novel is a fast-paced story with twists, turns and whole lot of mystery, and has won multiple literature awards as well as becoming a viral sensation on TikTok’s #BookTok and selling millions of copies since its publication.

Steered by Bridesmaids and A Simple Favour director Paul Feig, The Housemaid will star Sydney Sweeney as Millie and Amanda Seyfried as her employer Nina. A struggling Millie is relieved to be offered a job as a live-in housemaid for the wealthy Winchester family. But behind their pristine exterior all is not what it seems and Millie soon learns that the Winchesters’ secrets are far more dangerous than her own.

“Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom… 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,” reads the book’s synopsis.

McFadden previously self-published her psychological thrillers on Amazon while juggling a demanding day job as a doctor treating brain disorders. Now a household name, she is a number one New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller as well as the winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for best paperback and a Goodreads Choice Award winner.

“The response has been so surreal. When the book was published, I was hopeful that maybe a few thousand people would read it, so to see it on the New York Times bestseller list for over a year is beyond my wildest dreams,” McFadden tells Stylist.

The author is delighted and excited that her story is being adapted for the big screen. “It’s always been my dream to see one of my books make it to a screen – big or small.”

McFadden didn’t play a direct role in casting for the adaptation but she “couldn’t have possibly picked better actors to play the parts. Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar (Andrew) are pretty much my dream cast, and I’m really looking forward to seeing their interpretation of the roles.”

Image: Freida McFadden / Waterstones