Sydney Sweeney and Michele Morrone Kick Off Filming on The Housemaid’s Secret in Hoboken

Hoboken got a front-row seat to Hollywood this week. On Wednesday afternoon, Sydney Sweeney and Michele Morrone were spotted filming scenes for The Housemaid’s Secret, the follow-up to their 2025 thriller The Housemaid, and the cameras caught one of those small, unscripted-feeling moments that fans live for: Morrone leaning in and planting a kiss on Sweeney’s forehead mid-scene.

It was the kind of set photo that does half the marketing work on its own. No trailer needed. No teaser poster. Just two stars, back in character, on a real street in New Jersey, looking like they never left Millie and Enzo behind.

Between takes, Sweeney slipped out of character long enough to snap selfies and chat with the fans who had gathered to watch. That’s become something of a signature move for her — she’s famously approachable on set, even when the schedule is brutal and half the town is watching. Morrone, meanwhile, stayed close by, and the pair looked relaxed, like actors settling back into roles they already know by heart.

And that’s really the story here. Sequels are tricky. The first film has to land, the audience has to want more, and the cast has to actually want to come back. On all three counts, The Housemaid’s Secret seems to have cleared the bar before a single frame was shot. Cameras are rolling, the release date is already on the calendar, and the new cast additions suggest the people behind this one aren’t playing it safe.

Back in Hoboken, Back in Character

Wednesday’s shoot took place in Hoboken, New Jersey, a town that’s quietly become a go-to stand-in for all kinds of on-screen neighborhoods. It’s got the brownstones, the waterfront, the narrow streets — the kind of place that can look like almost anywhere, which is exactly what location scouts want.

Sweeney returns as Millie Calloway, the housemaid at the center of the whole storm, while Morrone is back as Enzo. If you saw the first film, you know those two characters carry a lot of history between them, and the forehead kiss caught on camera hints that the sequel isn’t shying away from that tension. It read as tender, not steamy — the kind of gesture that says more about trust and complicated feelings than any big dramatic speech could.

Of course, set photos only tell you so much. A forehead kiss in one scene doesn’t mean the whole movie is a love story. If the first Housemaid taught audiences anything, it’s that nothing in Millie’s world is quite what it seems, and the people who look the safest are usually the ones worth watching closest. Still, it’s hard not to read a little something into the ease between the two stars. They’re not easing into this sequel. They’re already in it.

What’s also worth saying: Hoboken picked a pretty good week to be a movie set. October in New Jersey can be a gamble — gorgeous one day, sideways rain the next — but the Wednesday shoot went ahead without a hitch, and the crowd that turned out got a genuine behind-the-scenes show for free.

What the Sequel Is Actually About

So where does Millie go from here? According to the studio’s outline, the sequel picks up with Millie taking a new housekeeping job — this time working for a woman she is never allowed to actually see. That’s the hook, and it’s a good one. A house full of rules, a boss who stays hidden, and one locked door that everyone pretends isn’t there. You can guess what happens next. Millie starts asking questions, and the answers turn out to be a lot darker than anything she dealt with the first time around.

It’s a setup that plays to the strengths of the whole concept. The first movie worked because it took something ordinary — cleaning someone else’s house, living in someone else’s world — and turned it into something quietly menacing. The sequel leans even harder into that. A client you never meet. A house with rooms you’re not allowed to enter. A job that pays well precisely because nobody else wants to ask what’s going on behind that door.

There’s a reason domestic thrillers keep working. Most people have stood in someone else’s kitchen and wondered about their life. Most people have cleaned up after strangers and imagined what they were hiding. The Housemaid movies just take that everyday curiosity and crank it until it snaps.

And honestly, the locked-door premise is catnip for this genre. Every viewer walks in already knowing the door is going to open eventually. The fun is in the waiting — in watching Millie talk herself into it, talk herself out of it, and then do it anyway.

A Bigger Cast and a Familiar Director

Paul Feig is back in the director’s chair, which matters more than it might sound. Feig has spent years bouncing between comedy and thriller, and the first Housemaid benefited from that mix — it knew when to let a scene breathe and when to twist the knife. Bringing him back signals that the studio liked the tone of the first film and doesn’t want to mess with the formula.

The new cast, though, is where things get interesting. Kirsten Dunst, Brittany Snow, Paul Anthony Kelly, and Stephen Kalyn have all joined the sequel. Dunst in particular is a fascinating addition. She’s spent her career moving between blockbusters and strange little indie films, and she brings a very specific energy — smart, a little guarded, hard to read. In a movie built around secrets, that’s exactly the kind of presence you want.

Snow, meanwhile, has her own history with thrillers and horror, and she knows how to play a character who seems fine until suddenly she isn’t. Put her in a house full of locked doors and hidden employers, and you’ve got a recipe for trouble.

We don’t yet know exactly who the newcomers are playing, and that’s probably deliberate. The studio is keeping character details close to the vest, which only adds to the speculation. Is Dunst the unseen employer? Is Snow a fellow member of staff with her own agenda? Are Kelly and Kalyn neighbors, cops, or something else entirely? For now, fans get to guess, and guessing is half the fun.

Earlier this month, Sweeney was spotted grabbing dinner with two of her new co-stars, which suggests the cast has already started bonding off camera. That stuff matters, especially on a thriller. The audience can always tell when a cast actually likes each other — and when they’re just showing up for the paycheck.

Why the First Film Made a Sequel Inevitable

Let’s be honest: not every hit thriller earns a sequel. Some stories are one-and-done, and forcing a second chapter just waters down the first. But The Housemaid was built from a book series, which means the source material was already there, waiting. The first film wasn’t a standalone gamble. It was the opening move.

That changes the math. When a movie adapts the first book in a series and audiences respond, the sequel isn’t a cash grab — it’s the plan working. And Millie is the kind of character who can carry more than one story. She’s resourceful, she’s got a past, and she keeps walking into houses that turn out to be traps. There’s a lot of road left in that premise.

There’s also the Sydney Sweeney factor, which is impossible to ignore. At 29, she’s in the middle of one of the busiest stretches of any young actor in Hollywood — bouncing between prestige TV, big-screen thrillers, and producing projects of her own. Her decision to come back for a sequel says something. Actors at her level don’t return to franchises out of obligation. They return when they think there’s more story worth telling.

Morrone, 36, is in a similar spot. The Italian actor and singer has been steadily building a screen career, and Enzo is one of his most recognizable roles. Coming back to it, in a bigger movie with a bigger cast, makes sense for him too. The forehead kiss photo might have been a scene, but the partnership behind it looks like the real deal.

The Long Wait Until December 2027

Here’s the part that requires a little patience: The Housemaid’s Secret is scheduled to hit theaters on December 17, 2027. That’s more than a year away. A long time to wait for a movie that just started filming.

On the other hand, the long runway makes sense. Thrillers live or die in the edit, and Feig’s team will want time to get the pacing right. The December slot also puts the film right in the middle of holiday moviegoing season, when audiences are looking for something to escape into — and a twisty thriller is a pretty good escape.

It also gives the marketing team room to breathe. Expect the drip-feed to start slowly: a few more set photos, maybe a first-look image around the holidays, then a teaser trailer sometime next year. By the time December 2027 rolls around, Millie’s new house will feel like a place audiences have been waiting to step inside.

For now, though, the Hoboken photos are doing plenty. They confirm the sequel is real, the leads are back, and the tone — intimate, a little unsettling, very watchable — is right where the first film left it.

What to Watch For Next

If you’re following this one, here’s what to keep an eye on over the next few months. First, casting details. Once the studio starts confirming who Dunst, Snow, Kelly, and Kalyn are actually playing, the shape of the story will get a lot clearer. Second, more set photos. Hoboken was just the start — the production will move around, and every new location is a clue about where Millie’s story goes next.

Third, and maybe most important: how much of the new book’s plot makes it to the screen. Book adaptations always involve choices — what to keep, what to cut, what to rearrange — and fans of the novels will be watching those choices closely. The first film earned goodwill by staying faithful to the spirit of the story even when it tweaked the details. The sequel will need to do the same.

For Sweeney, this is another chapter in a career that keeps getting bigger without losing its center. She could have chased safer, splashier projects. Instead, she’s back in a maid’s uniform, back in a house full of secrets, back to the role that proved she could carry a thriller on her own. That’s a choice, and it’s a good one.

And for everyone who spent the first movie yelling at the screen — don’t go in there, don’t open that, don’t trust that person — get ready to do it all over again. Millie’s new job starts with a locked door and an employer she’s never seen. We all know how this goes. We’re going to watch anyway.

Source: Just Jared