Another Simple Favor: Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick Aren’t the Only Returning Actors

The hot, twisty psychological thriller A Simple Favor, about Blake Lively’s Emily flirting with manipulating Anna Kendrick’s Stephanie, was begging for a sequel in 2018. Director Paul Feig, who created the series Freaks and Geeks and primarily deals in comedies like Bridesmaids and Spy, finally did it! He reunited the cast for Another Simple Favor and proved that their insanely good chemistry was not lightning in a bottle. The film is finally out on Amazon Prime. We’re so, so back.

The “simple favor” in the first movie was picking up a kid after school. This time around, Emily is asking something much more horrifying of her BFF. She wants her to be in her wedding. The horror! But knowing what Emily is likely to have up her sleeves… it actually is kind of horrifying. Never follow a con artist with identical siblings to a remote location!

Some cast members from the original movie did not return for the sequel set in Capri, Italy including Jean Smart, Rupert Friend, Dustin Milligan, Patti Harrison, and Linda Cardellini. But everyone else–even the actors who played kids or the rest of the 2018 film’s minor characters–is back. That’s really impressive! There are a slew of new characters too who get drawn into Emily’s web along with Stephanie. Here’s everything you need to remember and know about the cast and characters of Another Simple Favor.

Anna Kendrick plays Stephanie Smothers

Stephanie is a prim and proper mommy blogger turned author and amateur investigator. In A Simple Favor, her life got flip-turned upside down when she met Emily. The glamorous and mysterious fellow mom got Stephanie out of her shell and revealed some of the darkness she’d been suppressing. In Another Simple Favor, the life she’s built on telling her and Emily’s story threatens to topple.

Anna Kendrick, triple-plus threat, was nominated for a Tony Award when she was a teenager, and an Academy Award less than a decade later for Up in the Air. You know her from Pitch Perfect, Twilight, Camp, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and The Accountant. Last year, she directed and starred in the true crime drama Woman of the Hour.

IG: @annakendrick47

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Blake Lively plays Emily Nelson, a.k.a.??

As Stephanie uncovers in A Simple Favor, Emily is more than a high powered PR executive trapped in the suburbs. Her real name is Hope, and she reinvented herself after she and her sister Faith started a fire that killed their father. She’s a con artist on the run! Hope and Faith are two of three identical triplets, all played by Lively. The third, Charity, was stillborn…or so they think! Emily/Hope killed Faith in order to stage her own death and live off of the life insurance policy. But the plan didn’t work.

Like Kendrick, Blake Lively has been making a splash since she was a teen in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants films, then on Gossip Girl, and later in films like Age of Adeline, The Town, The Shallows, and most recently It Ends With Us. Also, remember when she directed the “I Bet You Think About Me” music video?! Iconic.

IG: @blakelively

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Henry Golding plays Sean Townsend

In A Simple Favor, Sean is Emily’s husband. He was a formerly successful writer who hasn’t typed a word since he got married. Emily and Sean had a hot-and-cold, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf kind of banter. But then Emily is presumed dead and Sean immediately starts sleeping with Stephanie. Not so great of a guy!

Henry Golding has been in so many romantic comedies (Crazy Rich Asians, Last Christmas, Persuasion) and yet it still doesn’t feel like enough! At least he has action chops too. Later this year, you can see him in The Old Guard 2 on Netflix!

IG: @henrygolding

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Elizabeth Perkins plays Margaret McLinden

Margaret is Emily/Hope, Faith, and Charity’s mother. She doesn’t remember much about the fire and most days still thinks her husband is alive. The character Margaret did appear in A Simple Favor, but she was played by Smart.

Elizabeth Perkins has been making you laugh for decades on shows like Weeds, GLOW, Minx, and The Afterparty. She was also in This is Us and Sharp Objects, which are great but not laugh riots. Perkins’ film credits include Big, Miracle on 34th Street, and The Flintstones… no biggie!

IG: @elizabethperkins

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Allison Janney plays Linda McLinden

Linda is Margaret’s sister and the triplets’ aunt.

Allison Janney won an Oscar for I, Tonya in 2017, but odds are you already know her from movies and shows like 10 Things I Hate About You, The West Wing, The Help, The Hours, Juno, Hairspray, Mom… I could keep going!

IG: @allisonbjanney

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Bashir Salahuddin plays Detective Summerville

The cop who investigated Emily’s disappearance in A Simple Favor returns as Stephanie’s friend and ally.

Besides this franchise, Bashir Salahuddin was in 2022’s massive blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick and before that the HBO series Looking and the sitcom South Side–which he also co-created. Salahuddin is a comedy writer as well who’s worked on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (before Fallon took over The Tonight Show), Sherman’s Showcase, and the MTV Movie Awards.

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Andrew Rannells plays Darren

Darren’s the token guy in the mommy group at Emily and Stephanie’s kids school. He’s kind of mean but always comes through for Stephanie in a pinch.

Where do I even start with Andrew Rannells? He’s a Broadway and West End superstar, Tony nominated for both The Book of Mormon and the 2016 revival of Falsettos. He’s been in too many musicals to list, TBH. You probably know him from Girls, or maybe the short-lived sitcom The New Normal. He’s a big time voice actor as well with roles on Invincible, Big Mouth, and the English dub of anime shows like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh.

IG: @andrewrannells

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Alex Newell plays Vicky

Vicky is Stephanie’s publicist who tags along to the wedding to help her mine the occasion for story ideas and also, if necessary, act as a witness in case she gets murdered.

Another Broadway (and Glee and Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, obvs) icon! Alex Newell won a Tony Award in 2023 for their role in the musical Shucked. Their Broadway debut was in the revival of Once on this Island in 2017 and they recently starred as the Leading Player in Pippin on the West End… which you can stream!

IG: @thealexnewell

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Michele Morrone plays Dante Versano

Dante is Hope/Emily’s new Italian fiance.

If you were horny and on Netflix in 2020 (and who among us was not) you at least heard about 365 Day starring Michele Morrone and Anna-Maria Sieklucka. The erotic thriller and its sequels are wildly popular and terribly reviewed. Morrone also stars in Paul Feig’s other thriller coming out this year, The Housemaid with Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried, and Brandon Sklenar,

IG: @michelemorrone

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Elena Sofia Ricci plays Portia Versano

Portia is Dante’s mother and Hope/Emily’s future in-law. She’s mean to Stephanie, which means she immediately falls in love with her. She’s also a mafia boss, NBD.

Elena Sofia Ricci is a director and award-winning actor in Italy for films like Loose Cannons, lo e mia sorella, Loro 1 and Loro 2 etc. She wrote, directed, and starred in Grido per un nuovo Rinascimento.

IG: @elenasofiaricci_officialpage

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Joshua Satine plays Miles Smothers

Miles is Stephanie’s son. Was he traumatized by the events of A Simple Favor? You bet!

Joshua Satine played Miles in the original, too! In between the two films, the actor guest-starred on shows like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and made his Broadway debut in the Tony-winning play Leopoldstadt.

IG: @joshuasatine

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Ian Ho plays Nicky Nelson

Nicky is Emily and Sean’s son. He was definitely traumatized by the events of A Simple Favor.

He’s also reviving his role from A Simple Favor! In addition to voiceover and kid’s television roles, he’s been in some science fiction shows like The Expanse and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

IG: @ianho4real

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Taylor Ortega plays Agent Irene Walker

Irene is an FBI Agent who follows Stephanie and Emily/Hope and her family to Capri and isn’t great at her job.

Taylor Ortega has popped up on a lot of your favorite comedies recently including Ghosts, What We Do In The Shadows, Love Life, Welcome to Flatch, and the live-action adaptation of Kim Possible. Ortega’s Welcome to Flatch co-star Holmes has a cameo in Another Simple Favor as a summer camp counselor named Val.

IG: @taylortega

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Aparna Nancherla plays Sona

Sona is another mom at Nicky and Miles’ school.

Aparna Nancherla is a stand-up comedian and actress you may have seen or heard in Mythic Quest, The Great North, Search Party, and/or Abbott Elementary.

IG: @aparnapkin

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Kelly McCormack plays Stacy

Stacy is the final member of the parents, also reprising her role from A Simple Favor.

In between films, Kelly McCormack had a significant role on Amazon’s A League of Her Own. Other credits include Letterkenny, Killjoys, and Sorry, Baby.

IG: @kellyandphyllis

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