The Housemaid (2025) ending explained: Did Nina hire Millie to destroy Andrew?

The Housemaid opens with Sydney Sweeney as Millie Calloway sleeping in her car and chasing any job that comes with a bed. Spoilers follow for the full movie and its ending. Released in 2025, The Housemaid adapts Freida McFadden’s bestselling novel into a domestic thriller where money, manners, and “good intentions” become weapons. Sydney Sweeney plays Millie, a live-in housemaid hiding a prison past and trying to stay employable.

Amanda Seyfried plays Nina Winchester, the wealthy wife who hires her for an isolated New York mansion. Nina’s mood flips without warning, and her husband Andrew stays smooth and plausible. Millie is pushed into an attic room with a deadbolt on the outside, and the film keeps daring viewers to misread that detail.

A mid-movie rewind reframes earlier scenes, then the final attic confrontation explains who was trapped and who built the trap. By the time the credits roll, the story answers whether Nina hired Millie to take Andrew down.

The Housemaid ending explained: Did Nina hire Millie to destroy Andrew?

Yes. Nina, played by Amanda Seyfried, hires Millie because she needs Andrew exposed, removed, or both. The Housemaid hides that motive early by pushing Nina as the obvious threat, then letting Andrew play the steady husband who “handles” her. Andrew said,

“I want you to feel safe here.”

Once the attic door starts locking from the outside, that line stops sounding like comfort and starts sounding like a claim.

Nina’s plan works by pulling Millie into Andrew’s attention and creating proof Nina can use later. Nina orders Millie to book a New York City weekend, then denies asking and threatens to dock Millie’s pay.

Nina leaves to take Cece away, and Andrew insists Millie use the tickets so they do not go to waste. Millie has nobody to go with, so Andrew joins her, and the trip turns into an affair. When they return, Nina reveals she tracked Millie’s phone, and Millie realizes she was not “temptation,” she was evidence.

Nina then forces Andrew to choose a side. She frames Millie for stealing Nina’s car and tries to have her arrested. Andrew steps in as rescuer, pushes Nina out, and offers Millie a fresh start in the mansion. Millie breaks one of Andrew’s prized plates, and he brings her to the attic, sleeps with her, and locks her in when she wakes, using the deadbolt.

From there, The Housemaid turns the attic into the answer. Flashbacks show Andrew has used that room on Nina before and engineered a breakdown that got her sent away for treatment. Now he repeats the pattern with Millie, forcing her to carve twenty-one lines into her stomach using a shard from the broken plate. Nina hid a knife in the attic, and Millie finds it. When Andrew unlocks the door, Millie stabs him and escapes.

Nina returns, sees the attic light on, and opens the door, accidentally freeing Andrew. He attacks Nina on the stairs, and Millie runs back in and confronts him. Millie pushes Andrew over the bannister, and he dies under the chandelier. Nina tells the police that he fell while changing the chandelier light, and the story holds. Nina pays Millie to disappear, and The Housemaid ends with Millie noticing bruises on another housemaid, hinting she may do this again.

What happens in The Housemaid before the twist: Millie’s “dream job,” Nina’s chaos, and the attic warning

The Housemaid builds dread through routine, because routine is how the house trains Millie to stop trusting her instincts. Millie cleans, cooks, and stays polite because she needs the room. Nina hires her like a friend, then lashes out over “mistakes” that feel staged. Nina said,

“That’s a lot of bacon, Millie.”

The line is petty, but it shows how fast ordinary chores become accusations. Meanwhile, Andrew stays calm, offers help, and makes Nina look unreasonable by contrast. The mansion looks safe, but the attic room keeps breaking the illusion, because the deadbolt locks from the outside and the “quirk” never feels harmless.

The big reveal explained: why Nina looks unstable, what Andrew is doing, and why the book changes matter

The perspective shift reframes Nina as trapped, not irrational, and it clarifies why she picked Millie. Nina needs someone Andrew will obsess over, and someone tough enough to survive being disbelieved. Nina said,

“He’s a dream, isn’t he.”

After the reveal in The Housemaid, it reads like a line she performs, so outsiders keep buying the mask. The adaptation also reshapes the novel’s final beats. The book keeps Andrew’s fate contained in the attic. The Housemaid turns the climax into a public fall, adds a believable police story, and widens the ending by showing Millie spotting bruises elsewhere.

Stay tuned for more updates.