'Wait, what?' The biggest changes between The Housemaid book and movie.

We're mere days from 2026 starting and The Housemaid has already become one of the most talked-about films of the year.

Released in Australia last week, the movie was adapted from Freida McFadden's psychological thriller The Housemaid. The novel became a global phenomenon after its 2022 release, propelled by viral success on TikTok and topping bestseller lists for over a year.

The twisty plot follows Millie, a struggling ex-con who becomes a live-in maid for the wealthy Winchesters. She soon discovers that her employers' perfect facade is hiding grisly secrets.

The 2025 film adaptation, directed by Paul Feig, stars Sydney Sweeney as the fresh-eyed Millie and Amanda Seyfried as the erratic Nina. Brandon Sklenar rounds out the lead cast as Andrew, Nina's husband, in this (low-key unhinged) cinematic reimagining.

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As it goes with any book-to-screen adaptation, there are going to be some differences that could ruffle fan feathers.

"They made some changes to the end," Freida McFadden told E! News at the film's New York premiere. "I actually think it's better. It's more action, which I think works a lot better on the big screen."

Along with the ending being significantly different, there are quite a few tweaks that have been made, and we've rounded up the biggest ones.

Warning: This article contains major spoilers.

The ending is very different.

In the movie, Andrew imprisons Millie in the attic, coercing her into self-mutilation as punishment for breaking a family heirloom plate.

After she complies and earns her release, Millie uses a blade Nina previously concealed to stab Andrew's neck, trapping him in the room.

She demands he extract his own tooth before she retreats downstairs. Upon Nina's return, she inadvertently frees Andrew while attempting to rescue Millie. A violent struggle ensues, ending when Millie pushes Andrew over the staircase railing to his death.

Image: Lionsgate.

Nina covers up the murder as an accident, aided by a sympathetic police officer who recognised Andrew's history of abuse. The film concludes with Millie receiving a large sum from Nina and starting a new job, seemingly poised to rescue another domestic abuse victim.

Ughhh, wait, what? This ain't how the book ends.

The novel presents an even darker fate for Andrew: he never escapes the attic, as Millie abandons him to perish from dehydration. Too bad, so sad! Nina eventually discovers his corpse and handles the police investigation alone. The book ends with Millie partnering with Enzo, the groundskeeper, to establish a network dedicated to liberating women from violent marriages.

This brings us to the next change…

Enzo plays a lesser role in the movie.

Fans of the book will be surprised to learn how little Michele Morrone's Enzo features in the film — given how integral his character is in the book and its sequels.

In the novel, Enzo is the rugged Italian gardener who develops a protective, romantic bond with Millie. Beyond just his job, he serves as her silent ally against Andrew's cruelty.

Their mutual attraction culminates in a partnership where they flee together, eventually forming a romantic and professional team dedicated to saving other women from domestic abuse.

Image: Lionsgate.

However, Enzo does not do a whole lot in the movie. A lot of what happens with Enzo is more implied than actually acted out by Morrone, and no love story unfolds between him and Millie.

If anything, I caught more vibes between Enzo and Nina in the movie.

That's a ship, I'd like to see!

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Millie's accent and overall character is less gritty.

While Millie's accent is not explicitly described in the novel, fans of the audiobook adaptation will expect to hear Millie speak in a thick Brooklyn accent.

This accent is obviously added to reinforce her working-class background and juxtapose her status as an outsider against the wealthy Winchesters.

In the film adaptation, Sweeney doesn't seem to have much of a Brooklyn inflection at all — instead, she uses her natural American accent for the role.

Overall, Millie doesn't feel like the gritty, tough girl she is in the novel, with the filmmakers opting for more of a girl-next-door vibe for Sweeney's portrayal.

The torture room scenes were different in the book.

The scenes in the attic upstairs are not for the faint-hearted.

But, in the novel, a few events went down differently.

The movie showed how Andrew routinely locked Nina in the attic bedroom, forcing her to pull out her own hair and starving her, all for letting her hair roots show.

Image: Lionsgate.

This indeed happens in the book, but the Millie torture scenes play out differently.

After their affair begins, Andrew reveals his true nature and locks Millie in the attic after she accidentally smashes his mother's porcelain. He then instructs her to slice cuts into her stomach with the jagged edge of the plate as punishment.

In the novel, he forces Millie to balance heavy textbooks (including A Guide to U.S. Prisons and The History of Torture) on her stomach for hours while watching her through a hidden camera.

Another key difference is that in the novel, Nina leaves pepper spray hidden in a bucket for Millie to find. When Andrew locks Millie in the attic, she stays there and ultimately locks Andrew in to die of starvation and thirst.

In the movie, Nina leaves a knife hidden in the locked room for Millie. Millie finds the knife and uses it to stab Andrew in the neck, allowing her to escape and lock him in.

The Housemaid is currently screening in cinemas.

Feature image: Lionsgate.