'The Housemaid' Ending Explained: What's Different from Book to Movie Adaptation

The twisty new thriller The Housemaid is out in theaters and there are so many shocking moments throughout the film that will have your jaw on the floor.

We’ve gotta discuss that ending, but if you haven’t seen the movie yet, beware of spoilers as there will be plenty in this article.

The ending of the movie was slightly different than the ending of the book, so we’re going to fill you in on those changes.

Here’s the synopsis: “Trying to escape her past, Millie (Sydney Sweeney) accepts a job as a live-in housemaid for the wealthy Nina (Amanda Seyfried) and Andrew Winchester (Brandon Sklenar). But what begins as a dream job quickly unravels into something far more dangerous — a sexy, seductive game of secrets, scandal, and power. Behind the Winchesters’ closed doors lies a world of shocking twists that will leave you guessing until the very end.”

So, what happens in the end? And what was changed?

Keep reading to find out more…

Throughout Millie’s early days of employment with the Winchester family, it quickly becomes clear to her that Nina is unhinged and going through some sort of mental breakdown. Nina constantly blames Millie for things that are going missing or giving her orders to do things, but then acting like she never said it.

Nina asks Millie to book a romantic weekend for her and Andrew in New York City, with theater tickets and a hotel room. After Millie gives her the tickets, Nina says that she never asked her to do that and says the money is coming out of her paycheck. Andrew says they will not do that. Nina leaves for the weekend to drop her daughter at camp and Andrew tells Millie to use the tickets with a friend. Millie says she has no one to go with, so Andrew accompanies her for a night in the city. They end up staying overnight at the hotel and sleep together.

When Millie and Andrew return home, Nina clearly knows what happened because she has been tracking Millie’s location on her phone. She later frames Millie for the theft of her car and tries to have her arrested, which leads to a blow-up between Andrew and Nina.

Andrew kicks Nina out of the house and breaks up with her. He asks Millie to stay with him as he now has feelings for her. It seems like everything is all going well for them, until Millie accidentally drops one of Andrew’s special plates from his grandmother’s China collection.

Andrew brings Millie up to the attic to sleep with her, but when Millie wakes up, she has been locked in the attic.

We then learn that Andrew has been the villain all along.

Nina was never crazy. In a flashback, we learn that Andrew met Nina when she was a single mother who was making ends meet as a secretary for a law firm. They have a whirlwind romance and get engaged after just six weeks. Things took a turn though when Nina wasn’t taking care of her hair color and waited too long before getting her roots touched up. Andrew locks her in the attic and punishes her by making her pull out 100 strands of hair to make her learn a lesson about keeping up with perfection.

This becomes a cycle in Andrew and Nina’s life, where he forces her to face consequences if she doesn’t live up to his idea of perfection. He framed her to make it look like she tried to drown her daughter, which led to her being locked up in a psych ward.

Nina hired Millie in an effort to have Andrew become obsessed with someone else and have him break up with her so that she could finally escape. She chose Millie specifically because of her past.

In another flashback, we learn that Millie went to prison for 10 years for murdering someone. She walked in on her roommate getting raped by a boy, so she bludgeoned him to death. The roommate didn’t back up her story, so Millie took a plea deal and served 10 years and was released on parole.

This is where things become different than the book.

IN THE MOVIE: Millie is now locked in the attic and Andrew forces her to carve 21 lines into her stomach using a piece of the plate she broke. After what seems like days, she follows through with it and Andrew eventually opens the door to let her out. Nina had left a knife hidden in the room for Millie, which Millie found. Millie uses the knife to stab Andrew in the neck. She’s able to escape the room and lock Andrew in there.

Millie then forces Andrew to perform a punishment on himself. She tells him to rip his tooth out with pliers. He does it, but she keeps him locked in the attic and goes downstairs to relax on the couch.

Nina comes back to the house and sees the light on in the attic and assumes that Millie is locked in there. She feels guilty about leaving Millie there so she goes inside to help her escape. Unfortunately, she opens the door and lets Andrew escape instead. He pushes her down the stairs and Millie runs out of the house. Andrew is about to kill Nina, but then Millie comes back and pushes Andrew over the banister and he falls to his death.

Nina tells Millie to run away and that she’ll tell the cops that Andrew must have fallen while trying to change a light in the chandelier. While talking to the cops, the officer reveals to Nina that her sister was once engaged to Andrew. She knows how terrible Andrew was and she decides to corroborate Nina’s story, even though she knows it clearly wasn’t true. Andrew’s death is classified as accidental.

Millie shows up at Andrew’s funeral and Nina gives her a $100,000 check and tells her to start a new life. We then see Millie in an interview for a new housemaid position. The woman interviewing her tells her that she comes highly recommended by Nina. We see that the woman has bruises on her wrists. The ending leaves room for a sequel where Millie might be helping another woman escape from her husband!

IN THE BOOK: Andrew never has the opportunity to escape from the attic as Millie leaves him up there to die from thirst.

Nina does come back to the house in the book and she discovers Andrew’s dead body in the attic. Just like in the movie, Nina does tell Millie to run away and she deals with the cops.

In the book, Millie actually teams up with the groundskeeper Enzo in the end and they form a group to help women who are in abusive relationships.

_______

The director of The Housemaid has publicly commented on how Sydney dealt with a breakup that happened during filming.