Sweeney Gets Morrone's Kiss on 'Housemaid's Secret' Set: 'A Lot of Fun'
The $400M franchise is back in production. Paparazzi in Hoboken caught Michele Morrone kissing Sydney Sweeney on the forehead between takes, and the sequel just added a second love interest.
Open Hailing Frequencies ↓
Sydney Sweeney and Michele Morrone were photographed filming The Housemaid's Secret on a Hoboken, New Jersey sidewalk on October 14, 2026, and per ARY News, Morrone kissed Sweeney on the forehead during an intimate scene between takes. She chatted with fans watching the shoot afterward.
Sweeney returns as Millie Calloway, the ex-convict turned housekeeper at the center of Freida McFadden's bestselling thriller series. Morrone is back as Enzo Accardi, the groundskeeper with a layered, secretive backstory. Paul Feig is directing again.
The sequel also introduces a new love interest: Stephen Kalyn plays Brock Cunningham, and DNYUZ reported Sweeney and Kalyn filming the following day, October 15, with Kalyn placing his hands on her shoulders in what appeared to be a charged exchange. That puts two men in Millie's orbit, which is structurally the engine of McFadden's second book.
A $400M franchise building its second chapter
The first film earned $400 million worldwide against a $35 million budget, making it Sweeney's highest-grossing film by a wide margin, surpassing the $220 million she earned with Anyone But You in 2023. Lionsgate is distributing the sequel.
Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar are not returning, though Seyfried stays on as executive producer. New cast members Kirsten Dunst, Brittany Snow, and Paul Anthony Kelly join the ensemble. In the original casting announcement, Morrone said Enzo would have "some very interesting and secretive plot lines." He described Sweeney as "a lot of fun."
The plot, per the Lionsgate synopsis: Millie takes a new housekeeping job for a woman she is never allowed to see. She finds a locked door hiding secrets darker than her own past. The film is scheduled for theaters on December 17, 2027.
What the forehead kiss actually signals
The on-set photo is paparazzi candy, but the casting architecture is the real story. The first film centered on the Sweeney-Seyfried dynamic: two women, opposite ends of a deceptive household, each concealing something lethal. The sequel trades Seyfried for a mystery employer Millie cannot see, and introduces a romantic triangle that McFadden's book fans will recognize immediately.
Morrone got the role of a character the book describes as deeply compelling precisely because he is not simply a love interest. His "secretive plot lines" language in the original casting announcement telegraphs that Enzo is going to complicate Millie's loyalties, not just her heart. Pairing that with a new love interest arriving in Brock Cunningham sets up exactly the kind of psychological pressure-cooker McFadden used in the first book.
Sweeney has now built the thing that very few actors in their late twenties manage: a genre franchise that people actively want a second entry in. The forehead kiss on a Hoboken sidewalk is the first image from production. There will be more.
Ad Watch News is an independent commentary site with no affiliation with Sydney Sweeney, Michele Morrone, Lionsgate, or any party named in this story. This piece draws on published sources listed below.
Sources & further reading
- ARY News: Sydney Sweeney and Michele Morrone spotted filming The Housemaid sequel (Oct 2026)
- DNYUZ: Sydney Sweeney spotted on The Housemaid 2 set with Stephen Kalyn in Hoboken (Oct 2026)
- AOL: Michele Morrone cast as sexy Enzo in The Housemaid (exclusive)
- The Numbers: The Housemaid (2025) box office — $400,013,105 worldwide
- Wikimedia Commons: Sydney Sweeney at BFI London Film Festival 2025 (Christy Lau, CC BY 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons: Michele Morrone, 2019 (Telemagazyn, CC BY 3.0)
