Few characters in recent thriller-genre mashups have strutted, schemed, and *fashioned* their way into audience obsession quite like Blake Lively’s Emily Nelson. Seven years after A Simple Favor crashed into theaters with its cocktail of glitter, deception, and gender-flipped noir flair, Lively is back—bigger, sharper, and more sartorially lethal than ever—in Another Simple Favor. And even without the theatrical fanfare (the sequel dropped straight to Prime Video), Emily’s return to the screen feels nothing short of blockbuster-level.
Emily Nelson’s glamorous descent into Italian mob chaos
Directed once again by Paul Feig and co-written by Jessica Sharzer and Laeta Kalogridis, Another Simple Favor takes the twisted frenemy dynamic of Emily and Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) from suburban monotony to Mediterranean mayhem. Capri serves as the dazzling backdrop for Emily’s opulent (and deadly) wedding to Dante, a mob-connected gangster played by Michele Morrone. But as anyone familiar with the Simple Favor franchise knows, a fancy location and a bridal veil don’t make a plot any simpler.
What sets this sequel apart isn’t just the escalation of plot twists—it’s the way Emily Nelson, once more embodied by Lively, commandeers every scene with a blend of charisma, cruelty, and couture. From the moment she lands on the island in a pearl-studded pantsuit with a wait-til-you-see-it-closely glove motif, Emily isn’t just attending a wedding. She’s staging another one of her signature performances.
Blake Lively’s influence turns fashion into storytelling gold
One of the most thrilling layers to Another Simple Favor is how deeply Emily’s wardrobe is woven into the narrative—and how much Lively herself shaped that visual storytelling. Costume designer Renée Ehrlich Kalfus, who returns after styling the original film, reveals that Blake had a “massive say” in Emily’s ensembles, collaborating closely to ensure the fashion didn’t just look good, but *said* something.
And say something it does. Every look is a plot point, a character study, and a mood strike all in one. Take the prison-inspired gray striped suit with handcuff-echoing chains that Emily wears to Stephanie’s book reading—it's a power move cloaked in irony. Or the latex rose wedding bustier that blooms into metallic danger just as the story spirals into another blood-soaked twist. Kalfus even lets us in on a delicious behind-the-scenes secret: Emily’s iconic oversized hat wasn’t planned. Lively found it while shopping in Capri. They bought it. And it quickly became *another* character in the film’s sartorial symphony.
Triplets, queer subtext, and twisted sisterly love
Plotwise, Another Simple Favor dives headfirst into the absurd and the unexpected. What began as a sequel with no original plan now leans into its own mythology — introducing Charity, Emily’s long-hidden triplet, who wasn’t supposed to survive childbirth. Played by Lively herself, Charity is a chilling addition to the mirror-play, a third reflection of identity and chaos. And she’s not just a plot device—she’s on a murder spree, and she’s got a disturbing fixation on Emily.
Writer Jessica Sharzer says the team intentionally embraced the franchise’s enthusiastic queer fanbase by infusing the relationship between Emily and Stephanie with a “queer element.” She refers to their dynamic not just as a twisted alliance, but as a *love story*—one that’s messy, manipulative, and undeniably charged. It’s a bold choice that Sharzer confirms wasn’t made without Lively’s full buy-in. Emily’s triplet-turned-foil Charity even crosses into unsettling territory with her sister, leading to a controversial scene that sharpens the film’s tone from playful to provocative.
Emily’s sharp wit and deadly charm are sharper than ever
Beyond the plot gymnastics and costume couture, it’s Lively’s performance that grounds the madness. Emily’s dialogue crackles with wit, and her delivery is seasoned with irony. Sharzer admits that many of Emily’s funniest lines may not have even come from her pen—blame it on the creative combo of Feig and Lively, who clearly know how to play off each other. (“Or they will fuck you in the face.” Need I say more?)
Emily is manipulative, sure. But she’s also human—flashing moments of vulnerability beneath the veneer of glamour. She saves Stephanie from a kill plot she was likely expected to instigate, and she subverts every audience assumption about where her loyalties might lie. As Sharzer puts it, Emily is “misunderstood” and “complicated,” and she walks that line between hero and villain with the kind of grace that only Blake Lively can pull off without slipping.
Behind the chaos, a character craving freedom and control
By the film’s end, Emily is no longer who everyone thinks she is. She swaps identities with Charity, letting her twin take the fall while she slips into freedom—still cloaked in deception, but now with a plan and a son to protect. It’s a move that speaks to Emily’s core: survival through reinvention. She's not just playing the game; she's designing it. And with a final teaser letter from Dante’s mother asking for “another simple favor,” the door is wide open for a third film—one that Sharzer says is already being talked about.
A sequelful of layers, and Blake Lively at its stylish center
Whether or not the next Simple Favor arrives, Blake Lively’s Emily Nelson has cemented her place as a modern femme fatale of genre cinema. Not through violence alone, but through style, intelligence, and the kind of screen presence that turns every outfit into armor and every line into a signature move. Another Simple Favor may be streaming on a platform instead of lighting up theaters, but with Emily in the lead, it still feels like a marquee event.
Glamorous. Twisted. Unstoppable. Just like Emily. Just like Blake Lively.