Sydney Sweeney’s The Housemaid’s Secret Lands Oscar-Nominated Co-Star

Well, here comes another one: The Housemaid’s Secret—which is a sequel to last year’s ridiculous box office hit, The Housemaid—is officially moving forward, and there’s some new star power on board.

Kirsten Dunst Joins the Cast

Yep, that Kirsten Dunst. She’s jumping into the world of locked doors and questionable upper-class secrets, marking yet another big ticket project she’s signing onto (kind of a trend for her these days—she’s also popping up in the next Minecraft movie, which is a sentence I never thought I’d type).

Lionsgate confirmed that Dunst will be joining the next film alongside returning talent from the first one, mainly Sydney Sweeney, who’s back as Millie—a young woman with her own baggage, now once again getting paid to clean up for strangers while dodging literal and figurative skeletons in locked closets.

What’s Up With This Sequel?

The Housemaid’s Secret wastes no time picking up the main threads: Sweeney’s Millie is back, and so are writer Rebecca Sonnenshine (who adapted the original Freida McFadden novel) and director Paul Feig. Michele Morrone is also sticking around. If you’re wondering about Amanda Seyfried, who was a major part of the original, the answer is: probably not returning. No official word, but do not hold your breath.

Here’s how the studio is pitching it: Millie lands another sketchy housemaid gig, cleaning for a woman she’s literally not allowed to see. Of course, there’s more to that locked door than anybody’s letting on—think dark secrets, dangerous games, and those big juicy reveals the first movie loved so much.

'The film will once again follow the story of Sweeney's Millie, who takes on a job keeping house for a woman she's never allowed to see—only to discover the truth behind the locked door that threatens to expose secrets far darker than her own.'

A Quick Recap: The First Movie

• Box office: Near $400 million, which is wild considering no one expected this thing to blow up like it did.
• Original cast: Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried, Michele Morrone, Brandon Sklenar, Elizabeth Perkins, Mark Grossman, Hannah Cruz, Indiana Elle, Megan Ferguson, Ellen Tamaki (honestly kind of stacked if you look at it).
• Director: Paul Feig was and is still driving this bus.
• Screenwriter: Rebecca Sonnenshine took the bestselling 2022 Freida McFadden novel and made it into a twisty, pulpy mystery-thriller.
• Plot highlights: Sweeney’s Millie gets a “dream job” as a live-in maid for a suspiciously well-off couple, but things spiral into a mess of secrets, danger, and double-crosses—all the stuff you expect from 'woman alone in big creepy house' stories, except way more bonkers.

So, When’s This Happening?

Don’t get too excited just yet: filming isn’t starting until 2026. (Yes, you read that right. The sequel machine’s a long game.) By then, who knows, maybe we’ll see it in theaters alongside that oddly star-studded Minecraft sequel and Ruben Ostlund’s new flick Dunst is also tangled up in.

Final Thoughts

Bottom line: Kirsten Dunst is joining a franchise that—let’s be real—nobody outside Hollywood expected would actually become a franchise. If you like locked door mysteries with increasingly wild plot twists, or just want to see Sydney Sweeney and Dunst act suspicious in fancy houses, keep an eye on this one. Or, at this pace, check back in a couple years.