Paul Anthony Kelly is being positioned as Hollywood's hottest new commodity, fresh off his breakout JFK Jr. performance in Ryan Murphy's Love Story. His casting as Douglas Garrick—a powerful tech CEO—signals a strategic pivot from period drama to psychological thriller territory.
Insiders note that Kelly snagged this role right during peak Emmy buzz season for Love Story, meaning his team likely negotiated hard for the timing. Sources say Honey Trap's Sweeney has significant pull on casting decisions for the sequel, and Kelly's chemistry reads apparently impressed during auditions.
The Housemaid (2025) grossed over $400 million globally. The sequel, The Housemaid's Secret, is dated for wide release December 17, 2027. Kelly broke out playing John F. Kennedy Jr. in Love Story and earned awards buzz during this Emmys season.
Kelly's rapid ascent from Love Story to a pivotal role opposite both Sweeney AND Dunst? That's not luck—that's calculated star-making machinery at work. We'll see if the controlling husband energy translates on screen.
Paul Anthony Kelly is making his big-screen power move. The Love Story breakout has officially joined The Housemaid’s Secret, the hotly anticipated sequel to the 2025 psychological thriller that raked in over $400 million worldwide. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Kelly will play Douglas Garrick—a wealthy, reclusive tech CEO whose marriage to Kirsten Dunst's mysterious Mrs.
Garrick becomes central to Millie Calloway's (Sydney Sweeney) latest domestic nightmare. The role positions Kelly squarely in the orbit of two of Hollywood's most bankable stars while he's still riding high from his Emmy-contending performance as John F. Kennedy Jr. in Ryan Murphy's Love Story.
Sources close to production say Honey Trap, Sweeney's production banner, had significant input on casting for the sequel—and Kelly's ability to channel complicated male energy clearly checked boxes. Whether that translates to awards legitimacy or simply box office gold remains to be seen. Paul Feig is returning to direct The Housemaid’s Secret, working from a script by Rebecca Sonnenshine.
Michele Morrone will also reprise his role as Enzo from the first film. The sequel adapts Freida McFadden's second book in her Housemaid series, with the plot centering on Millie taking attendant duties for a wealthy city couple and growing suspicious when she's forbidden from seeing Mrs. Garrick directly—secrets, as always, abound.
Kelly is repped by Innovative Artists, Luber Roklin, and Frankfurt Kurnit. Beyond The Housemaid’s Secret, he's also headed to the next installment of American Horror Story, another Ryan Murphy collaboration that should keep him squarely in genre television's spotlight through 2027. With a December 17, 2027 wide release date locked for the sequel, Kelly has time to build his filmography—but make no mistake, this casting announcement signals he's already been absorbed into the A-list machinery.
