We at Audible were on the edge of our seats listening to The Housemaid, and now we're off to experience every twist and turn again with the thriller's brand-new film adaptation, in theaters December 19, 2025. As the editor of Audible’s Mysteries & Thrillers newsletter, I had some burning questions for Freida McFadden, the author of a book that has garnered 40,000+ impressive ratings on Audible. Chief among them: I wondered if her feet have touched the ground yet.
Yvonne Durant: The Housemaid releasing as a movie must be so exciting. Can you remember the moment you learned it was going to be made into a film? How did you feel?
Freida McFadden: I found out about interest from Hidden Pictures/Lionsgate back in the summer of 2022. I was so stunned that someone would want to make a movie out of one of my books. I was traveling at the time and had to take the Zoom meeting with these important Hollywood producers with my phone balanced inside a tissue box to keep it upright. I was touched by how much passion the producers had for my book.
We are loving the trailer. What do you think? Did your characters come alive the way you intended?
The characters are exactly how I pictured them. I don’t think I could have imagined better actors to play those roles—they were all incredible. I also have to hand it to director Paul Feig for injecting the perfect balance of thrills and humor. I’ve been a huge admirer of his movies and TV shows forever, so I knew he’d do the book justice.
Do you think that having seen your work as a movie will affect the way you write future books?
Probably not! As much as I loved seeing my work on the screen, I write books for readers first. That said, the performance by Sydney Sweeney made me wish I had waited to write that third book about Millie’s life, because she inspired me so much.
Movie premieres are huge and a ton of fun. What was it like?
I was lucky enough to attend the NYC premiere on December 2! I was super nervous, but I knew that walking the red carpet was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I’d remember forever, and I didn’t want to miss it. I loved talking to the actors to let them know how fantastic they were in the movie. But my favorite part was experiencing the enthusiastic response of the audience to the film.
When your books become audiobooks, are you ever surprised (good or bad) by the performance?
I have loved all the performances by the narrators of my books. As a big fan of audiobooks myself, I know how important a good narrator is. Lauryn Allman completely blew me away doing the narration for the Housemaid books, and I’ve also worked with her for other projects, like my Amazon Original Story, Death Row.
Can you tell us about an upcoming project you’re excited about?
My newest book, Dear Debbie, is releasing at the end of January. I had been dying for an opportunity to have a book narrated by Julia Whelan or January LaVoy, so to have both of them working together on this audiobook was a dream come true for me.
