Some announcements make a story click into place. Today Lionsgate said The Housemaid is heading to the stage, and my first reaction wasn’t “why?” It was “oh, of course.”

Here’s what’s confirmed. Lionsgate and the production company Melting Pot are staging a version of the thriller that opens on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2027 at Richmond Theatre in London, then goes out on a UK tour with dates stretching into April 2028. It draws on Freida McFadden’s novel and on Paul Feig’s 2025 film, and Variety says it’s being described as a “seductive psychological thriller.”

The movie took in roughly $400 million on a $35 million budget, and a sequel is already shooting. So the question isn’t whether anyone will notice. It’s whether a story that felt so cinematic can work in a room with 840 seats and no close-ups. I think it can, with one big condition. Here’s the full map, and where I’d place my bets.

The Key Points

  • The Housemaid stage play opens Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2027 at Richmond Theatre in London, runs there for a week, then tours the UK, per Variety and Best of Theatre.
  • Best of Theatre reports that most dates go on sale Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. The tour has 18 venues so far and runs into April 2028.
  • Bekah Brunstetter is adapting it and Matthew Dunster is directing. It is based on both the novel and the 2025 film.
  • No cast has been announced, and there is no word on a US run.
  • The sequel film, The Housemaid’s Secret, opens Dec. 17, 2027, 94 days after the play’s opening night.
Curtain up · The facts

The Housemaid on stage, confirmed facts only

Lionsgate & Melting Pot present THE HOUSEMAID A stage adaptation of Freida McFadden’s novel Richmond Theatre · London · Sept. 14, 2027
SEPT 14Opening night, 2027
NOV 6Most dates on sale
APR 29Tour ends, 2028
DEC 17Sequel film, 2027

These details come from Variety, UPI, Best of Theatre and Yahoo Entertainment’s tour report, all published Nov. 2. Here’s the program page.

Announced
Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, by Lionsgate and Melting Pot
Opens
Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2027 at Richmond Theatre in London. The Richmond run lasts a week
Then
A UK tour of 18 venues so far, running into April 2028
Adapted by
Bekah Brunstetter. Variety lists her credits as Five-Star Weekend and Sirens, and UPI also lists The Notebook
Directed by
Matthew Dunster, whom Variety credits for 2:22 A Ghost Story and The Hunger Games: On Stage
Based on
Freida McFadden’s novel and Paul Feig’s 2025 film, per Variety
Cast
Not announced in anything I read
US dates
No word yet, per Yahoo Entertainment’s report
Act I · The room and the road

Richmond first, then the road: the venue and the tour dates

Richmond Theatre is a real piece of theater history. It opened on Sept. 18, 1899 with As You Like It, Frank Matcham designed it, and it’s listed Grade II* by Historic England. It seats 840, sits on Little Green beside Richmond Green and is part of ATG Entertainment, per Wikipedia. Opening night for The Housemaid lands just shy of 128 years after that first one.

Best of Theatre lists the first stops like this, with more venues announced through April 2028:

  1. Richmond Theatre, RichmondSept. 14–18, 2027
  2. Alexandra Theatre, BirminghamSept. 21–25, 2027
  3. Malvern Theatres, MalvernSept. 28–Oct. 2, 2027
  4. Theatre Royal, BrightonOct. 5–9, 2027
  5. Everyman Theatre, CheltenhamFrom Oct. 12, 2027

Tickets. Best of Theatre reports that most dates go on sale on Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. I couldn’t find an official price, runtime or age recommendation in the coverage, and the first film was rated R, so check the box office of the venue you plan to visit before you book, especially if you’re thinking about bringing a teenager.

Now a read that’s mine, not a fact. Notice what this announcement isn’t. It isn’t a West End run. Richmond has a history of hosting pre-West End productions, per Wikipedia, but nothing in the announcement says that’s the plan. It’s a tour. I read that as Lionsgate wanting to build an audience town by town, the way the book itself spread by word of mouth, instead of betting everything on one London opening.

Act II · The people

Who’s making it, and why those names make me curious

Brunstetter writes it and Dunster directs, and Melting Pot is producing alongside Lionsgate. The detail that caught my eye is Dunster’s credit on 2:22 A Ghost Story, because a ghost story and a psychological thriller both run on tension and on what you can’t quite see. I’m not saying that guarantees anything. I’m saying it’s the kind of résumé I’d want attached to this material.

Lionsgate has been open about the bigger plan. Jenefer Brown, the studio’s president of Global Products & Experiences, said the play and the sequel in production show the franchise’s momentum growing, per Yahoo Entertainment. And when the sequel date was announced, trade coverage noted that Lionsgate hopes to turn The Housemaid into a major franchise, with plans to adapt more of McFadden’s books, including the third novel, The Housemaid Is Watching.

My honest feeling is that I’m glad the stage version has real stage people on it. Franchise stage shows can feel like merchandise with a curtain. This one, on paper, doesn’t.

Intermission · The clock

The Housemaid clock: page, screen, stage, sequel

I lined up every confirmed date and counted the gaps myself. If any date moves, the math moves with it.

  1. April 2022McFadden’s novel is published by Bookouture. According to Wikipedia, she wrote it in 2019 and set it aside because it felt too dark for her earlier work.
  2. Feb. 2023 and June 2024The sequels The Housemaid’s Secret and The Housemaid Is Watching follow.
  3. Dec. 19, 2025Paul Feig’s film opens with $19.0 million domestically, per The Numbers.
  4. Oct. 15, 2026Lionsgate announces that production on The Housemaid’s Secret has begun.
  5. Nov. 2, 2026The stage adaptation is announced. Most dates go on sale four days later.
  6. Sept. 14, 2027Opening night at Richmond Theatre.
  7. Dec. 17, 2027The Housemaid’s Secret opens in theaters, 94 days after the play’s opening night.
  8. April 29, 2028The announced tour ends.
104 weeks From the first film’s opening to the sequel’s date

Dec. 19, 2025 and Dec. 17, 2027 are both Fridays, exactly two years minus two days apart. It looks to me like Lionsgate is running this as a calendar, not a pile of one-off releases.

The play sits in the middle of that calendar, three months before the sequel. I think that’s smart: it gives the franchise a live moment to talk about right before the next film.

$35M → ~$400M Budget vs. worldwide gross, first film

Trackers differ a little: The Numbers shows about $400.0 million, Wikipedia lists $400.5 million and Box Office Watch shows $399 million. Roughly $126.4 million of it came from North America. A gross isn’t profit, because theaters keep a share, but a $35 million movie reaching this number is a very big deal.

The figure I’d frame is the run. A $19.0 million opening turned into $126.4 million at home, about 6.65 times the opening weekend. Variety credited positive reviews and word of mouth for keeping it in theaters well into the new year.

Act III · My take

Why I think a movie this cinematic still belongs on a stage

This is the part where I give you an opinion, because you can get the dates anywhere. Here’s the reasoning behind my cautious optimism.

1. It’s already a house story.

In the first film, Millie is a young woman trying to escape her past who takes a live-in job with a wealthy couple, Nina and Andrew Winchester, who have secrets of their own. In the sequel, per Variety, she keeps house for a woman she’s never allowed to see and finds out what’s behind a locked door. Both are about what a home hides. Houses are easy to build on a stage, and secrets behind doors are about the oldest theater trick there is.

2. A twist hits differently when a whole room reacts.

Thrillers live on that shared intake of breath. A movie can give you a twist, but a stage gives a few hundred strangers the same twist at the same second. If the play gets the timing right, the audience itself becomes part of the effect.

3. Millie has to work without a close-up.

This is my condition. A lot of what makes a thriller lead land on film is the close-up: faces, small shifts, quiet looks. On stage, whoever plays Millie has to deliver all of that to the back row. The cast matters more here than it did on screen, and it hasn’t been announced yet.

4. The twist is no secret anymore.

With roughly $400 million behind the film and a bestselling book behind that, plenty of ticket buyers will walk in knowing what’s coming. The play can’t treat the reveal as a surprise for everyone. The adaptation draws on both book and film, per Variety, and my guess is the smart move is to make people want to watch it happen again.

My seat map

My seat map: where I’d sit, and what would move me

Front rowReasons I’d buy early

A writer and a director with real stage credits. A story built around a house and a secret. A tour that puts the show in cities, not only London, which could make tickets easier to find.

Middle rowsWhat I’d wait to see

The cast announcement, especially who plays Millie. Ticket prices. An official age recommendation. And the first reviews from opening week at Richmond.

Back rowWhat would make me skip it

If the staging leans on famous movie moments instead of building something for a live room. A thriller that only reminds you of the film has no reason to exist in a theater.

My curtain-call meterWarm applause

This is my own opinion, not data. The play hasn’t been performed, so I’m clapping for the idea and the team, not the show.

If I’m honest, the thing I like most is the confidence. Lionsgate had a hit it could have just repeated on screen. Instead it’s sending the story somewhere new, and I’d like to see that pay off.

Still unknown

None of the coverage I read answers these yet:

Cast
Who plays Millie, Nina and Andrew, and whether anyone from the film is involved
Prices
What tickets cost at each venue
Age guidance
Whether there is an official recommendation, given the film’s R rating
Runtime
How long the show runs
Beyond the tour
Whether there will be a West End run or any US dates

Quick answers

Is The Housemaid becoming a stage play?

Yes. Lionsgate and the production company Melting Pot announced on Nov. 2, 2026 that a stage adaptation will open at Richmond Theatre in London on Sept. 14, 2027 and then tour the UK, per Variety and UPI.

When and where does The Housemaid play open?

It opens Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2027 at Richmond Theatre in Richmond, London. The Richmond run lasts a week, and the tour moves on from there, per Best of Theatre.

When do tickets for The Housemaid stage play go on sale?

Best of Theatre reports that most tour dates go on sale on Nov. 6, 2026. Prices were not in the coverage I read, so check the box office of the venue you plan to visit.

Who is in the cast of The Housemaid stage play?

No cast has been announced in any coverage I found, per Movieweb’s report that casting has not been announced yet. Nobody from the 2025 film has been named for it in the coverage I read.

Who is writing and directing The Housemaid play?

Bekah Brunstetter is adapting it and Matthew Dunster is directing, per Variety. Melting Pot is producing in collaboration with Lionsgate.

Is the play based on the book or the movie?

Both. Variety says it is based on Freida McFadden’s novel and on Paul Feig’s 2025 film adaptation.

Will The Housemaid play come to the US?

There is no word yet. The announced dates are all in the UK, and Yahoo Entertainment’s report says nothing has been said about a US run.

How many venues are on The Housemaid UK tour?

Best of Theatre counts 18 venues so far, running into April 2028. Other coverage says the tour ends on April 29, 2028.

When does The Housemaid’s Secret come out?

The sequel film is scheduled for theaters on Dec. 17, 2027. Lionsgate announced on Oct. 15, 2026 that production had begun, with Paul Feig returning to direct.

How much money did The Housemaid movie make?

About $400 million worldwide on a $35 million budget, with roughly $126 million of it in North America. Trackers range from $399 million to $400.5 million.

Where This Comes From

HOW WE REPORTED THIS

Independently reported and written for this story from published coverage on Nov. 2, 2026. The play has not been performed and no cast has been announced, so everything about its quality is my opinion. The announcement details come from Variety, UPI, Best of Theatre and Yahoo Entertainment, the box office figures from The Numbers, Variety and Wikipedia, and the venue history from Wikipedia. The date gaps and the box office ratio are my own arithmetic from those sources. The curtain-call meter and the seat map are my own opinion, not data. Dates, venues and ticket details can change. See our full editorial methodology for how we verify claims and separate fact from analysis.

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