The Stepdaughter (2025 Lifetime Movie)
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Cast: Annie Ngosi Ilonzeh, Cassidey Fralin, Blue Kimble
Director: Chris Stokes
Writer(s): Chris Stokes, Marques Houston
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DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearlySynopsis (via Lifetime)
After moving in with her dad and his new family, a seemingly sweet high schooler is willing to do anything to keep him to herself, including murder.
Recap/Wine Thoughts
The movie begins in a graveyard at the headstone of Chantal Lawrence. Joanna, her daughter, leaves flowers on the grave while crying. It’s confusing because the movie cuts from that scene to a grandmother dead at the bottom of the stairs. Joanna was the one who found her Granny at the bottom of the stairs. Did Granny Linda fall, or was she pushed?
Cut to secret newlyweds Whitney and Michael, who are hosting a get-together. There is a ring at the doorbell, and it is Joanna, an unexpected guest. Michael is surprised to see his daughter and is confused as to what she wants. Joanna tells them about her mother’s mother’s death and explains she has nowhere to stay. Whitney is quick to invite Joanna to stay in their guest room.
Joanna is a sad painter and paints alone in her room. BK, Whitney’s son, encourages Joanna to keep it up because she is talented. Joanna tells BK that her mother was killed by a drunk driver and she harbors a lot of resentment. After her mother died, Michael was absent and not a good father to Joanna, which is why she lived with her grandmother.
Ronda and Cassandra, Whitney’s sisters, are suspicious of the undisclosed daughter. Especially after Joanna breaks their mother’s urn and doesn’t say anything. Later at a pitch meeting, Whitney launches a new skincare line that MELTS PEOPLE’S FACE OFF!!!! (Did Joanna switch the test bottles? Probably.) We do see Joanna going through Whitney’s medication and crushing up the pills.
While getting their nails done, Whitney starts to feel sick and almost passes out. Joanna offers to drive home because she “has her licence.” (Thanks, Joanna!) Michael offers to cancel his work trip to take care of his new wife, but Whitney tells him to go and let her sons and Joanna take care of her.
With Michael out of town, Joanna is free to roam around the house at night in shirts cut in half to snoop around. Then Joanna self-checks out at a hardware store, buying the most suspicious items. A gasoline canister, ropes, and ties, all purchased with Whitney’s credit card. When Whitney notices her credit card is missing, she asks the kids, and Joanna pops off in the most monotone affect. Whitney tells Michael to check his daughter, and he says she is probably on her period. (BIG EYE ROLL, shut up, Michael.)
Kid, Eric, keeps catching Joanna doing bad things, so she gets him drunk, drugs him, and tries to push him off the roof. The kid is twelve!!!!! Joanna relax.
Whitney gets the test results from the lab on her makeup samples and learns that lye was mixed into the product. She asks Joanna about the makeup, but Joanna has a serious attitude about it. Whitney asks her sister, Cass, to look into Joanna’s background. They learn that Joanna’s name is Maggie Dillon. Whitney calls Michael and is like WTF! He makes excuses for his daughter.
BK’s friend Dante has the hots for Joanna and sneaks into her room. He goes through her things and finds some sexy lingerie and a diary. He reads it, and before he can tell BK what he read, Joanna stabs him A LOT! RIP Dante!
Whitney is next on the hit list, and her relationship with her new stepdaughter is strained! Joanna swaps out the pills, causing Whitney to sleepwalk and get even sicker. Whitney is admitted to the hospital under a 5150. Whitney begs her sister to keep the boys safe from Joanna. Cassandra takes the boys home with her and lets Joanna fend for herself.
Cassandra gets more information from her cop husband and learns that Joanna’s mother was NOT killed by a drunk driver; she was the drunk driver. Cass goes to grab the pills from Whitney’s medicine cabinet, convinced that the pills were swapped. Joanna catches her, and there is a looooooooong fight scene, culminating in Cass being thrown over the banister and falling to her death.
Whitney gets a call from Joanna and realizes her family is in danger. She sneaks out of the hospital to confront the stepdaughter. Joanna syringes Whitney and confesses to killing her granny, Dante, and Cass. (Oh no, Cass is alive.)
Michael is back from his work trip. The work he has been doing is trying to kill his wife and inherit all her beauty business money. Michael and Joanna turn on one another because Michael murdered her mother and lied about it. As the daddy/daughter argue, Whitney gets a gun and shoots Michael.
The police arrive, and Michael is MIA, Joanna is in the hospital. THE END!
STRAY Thoughts
Another Tubi Release acquired by Lifetime! Should I just watch the sequel to this now? I can’t. This was so bad.
How is a movie so violent and also so boring?
Overall rating
Number of Kills: 🔪🔪🔪(3 knives)
Lifetime Tropes: Murder Mystery
Enjoyment Level (1-5 scale)
🍷 (1 Glass of Wine)
Should you watch it?
Put a Cork in It (Skip It!)
What did you think of the movie? Let me know in the comments or on social media at @LifetimeUncorked and @patrickmiguel.
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*Photo Credit: © 2025 A&E Television Networks, LLC
Let me know what you thought of the movie in the comments below or @lifetimeuncorked
We’re only more than halfway through 2025 and I am definitely declaring this the worst year for Lifetime. We got so many Tubi acquisitions that it barely gave us room for anything new. Glad I read your review first.
This movie and its sequel, should’ve stayed on Tubi!