The following contains spoilers for Another Simple Favor, now streaming on Prime VideoAnother Simple Favor expands Emily Nelson’s family tree in some surprising ways, establishing secret members and introducing mafia dons as her new relatives. Emily Nelson is the core player in both A Simple Favor and Another Simple Favor, a former runaway who has built an impressive (albeit false) life in upper-crust Connecticut after escaping a toxic home life. Both films lean into her mysterious backstory to great effect, with many of their biggest twists and turns in the narratives connected to Another Simple Favor characters like her secret sister Charity.

Both films also expand her family through marriage, leading to two husbands (neither of whom makes it to the end of the second film) as well as an adorable son and a horrifying mother-in-law in the darkly fun Another Simple Favor. Revelations about Emily’s family flesh out her backstory and establish why she is the way she is, Here is the full breakdown of Emily’s family in A Simple Favor and Another Simple Favor, and what happens to each of them by the end of the second film.

Emily Nelson / Hope McLanden

Emily Is The Driving Force In Both A Simple Favor And Another Simple Favor

Emily, aka Hope, is one of the central characters in A Simple Favor and Another Simple Favor, with the schemes she (and her family) cook up driving the plot of both films. Born Hope McLanden to Margaret, Hope was raised alongside her twin sister Faith by their emotionally distant mother and abusive father, eventually going on the run after she and Faith set their home on fire and killed the latter. Hope eventually created the idenтιтy of Emily and found a way to settle into a comfortable life as the wife of a college professor and mother to their son.

However, Emily’s falsified life unravels when her sister Faith returns to her life. Emily ultimately kills Faith and tries to pin the blame on Sean and Stephanie, all while making her escape. She was captured at the end of A Simple Favor but gained her freedom in Another Simple Favor, tying herself to the Versano family by marrying Dante Versano. Even after his death, Emily is implied to remain a member of that criminal family, giving her a new home and purpose as an agent of her mother-in-law, Portia.

Faith McLanden

Emily’s Sister Is Key To Emily Faking Her Own Death

Faith was one of Hope’s sisters, with her very existence serving as one of the biggest twists of A Simple Favor. Alongside Hope, Faith bristled against the terrible treatment they received from their birth parents. After burning their family home to the ground, the two women went their separate ways. While Hope found a place for herself in the world by adopting the idenтιтy of Emily, Faith was left in the wind and eventually developed addictions to alcohol and heroin.

Out of options, Faith tracked down her sister and tried to blackmail her for $1 million. Threatening to expose the murder of their father over a decade prior, Faith initially seemed to convince Emily to her terms. However, a regretful Emily instead drowned her sister and then arranged for her to be discovered — allowing Emily to fake her death and move on. Faith doesn’t factor into much of Another Simple Favor as a result, although Charity does reference feeling something strange the exact moment that Faith died.

Charity McLanden

Charity Is The Most Dangerous And Unpredictable Of The McLanden Children

Charity was the third daughter of Margaret McLanden, following Hope and Faith. In A Simple Favor, Emily reveals that Charity did not survive childbirth after their umbilical cord was wrapped around her throat while still being carried by her mother. This is the inspiration behind Emily’s Charity tattoo, which references her long-thought-ᴅᴇᴀᴅ sibling. However, Another Simple Favor reveals that Charity never actually died. In reality, Charity was actually born safely after the successful births of Hope and Faith. However, Margaret’s sister Linda decided to fake her death and raise the child as her own.

Linda raised Charity as a tool in her criminal schemes instead of as her own person. The result is that the now-grown Charity is a strangely detached and loopy killer who has no moral quandaries about dispatching people who threaten what she wants. She’s also developed an obsession with Emily that extends to a Sєxual place, claiming she can feel everything her sisters feel. Emily uses this to her advantage in the climax of the film, convincing her to turn on Linda and then take the blame so Emily can slip back into the shadows.

Margaret McLanden

Emily’s Mother Proves To Be An Unlikely Source Of Information

Margaret McLanden is the matriarch of the McLanden family and serves an important supporting role in both films. A strict fundamentalist, Margaret emotionally abused her daughters while her husband proved more physically dangerous. After losing her husband and home when Hope and Faith burned the latter down, Margaret remained in her isolated location and only interacted with the plot when Stephanie’s investigation into Emily led her to the MacLandens.

Margaret returns in Another Simple Favor, having seemingly gotten a lot of plastic surgery done. Her mental state is shown to have continued to deteriorate, to the point where she seems unaware that they are even in Italy. Once again, Stephanie is able to discover information from her and piece together that Charity is alive and was raised by Linda. However, when Linda discovers that Margaret has told Stephanie all this, she smothers her sister with a pillow and kills her.

Linda McLanden

Emily’s Aunt Is The Main Villain Of Another Simple Favor

Linda is Margaret’s sister and the maternal aunt to Hope, Faith, and Charity. Linda helped deliver Margaret’s three daughters and faked the death of Charity so she could raise the girl herself. Linda is revealed to have had little direct connection to Emily during her life, and is eventually confirmed to be a con artist much like herself. Linda is the true antagonist of Another Simple Favor, hoping to use Emily’s wedding as a means of extorting money from the mafia.

When her initial plan to blackmail Emily doesn’t work, she kidnaps Emily and replaces her with Charity — who marries Dante, promptly kills him, and tries to endear herself to the rest of the Versano family. Linda is eventually exposed, however, and her efforts to lure Emily and Stephanie to a trap end up being twisted against her when Emily successfully convinces Charity to turn on her. This results in Charity shooting Linda and then pushing her off the side of a cliff to her death.

Sean Townsend

Emily’s Husband In The First Film Becomes A Victim In The Second

Sean Townsend is Emily’s husband in A Simple Favor and the father of their son, Nicky. An English professor at a local college, Sean is initially introduced as a perfect husband for Emily, only for their internal turmoil and drama to be revealed in the wake of her supposed “death.” Sean soon strikes up a connection with Stephanie that becomes an affair, although the pair splinter apart by the end of the film.

Sean returns in Another Simple Favor, attending the wedding of Dante and Emily at the behest of the court because of their son. Left embittered by the blows his reputation suffered after Stephanie’s book pained him as a pathetic failure to the world at large, Sean is openly belligerent and confrontational in the first act of Another Simple Favor. After the rehearsal dinner, Sean is ᴀssᴀssinated in his H๏τel room, poisoned by a mysterious ᴀssailant (who is later revealed to be Charity).

Nicky Townsend

Emily And Sean’s Son Is One Of The Only People Emily Cares About

Nicky is Emily and Sean’s son. Introduced in A Simple Favor as the best friend to Stephanie’s son Miles, Nicky is an average boy who shares his parents’ wit but lacks their more vindictive elements. Emily’s love for Nicky is portrayed as one of the only humanizing elements of the character, as she does everything she can be reunited with him and ensure his safety during the first film.

In Another Simple Favor, he’s excited to meet his extended family and seems to be forming a connection with Dante when the latter is murdered. Nicky is later kidnapped by Charity and Linda, who use him as a hostage to lure Stephanie and Emily into their trap. However, Nicky’s quick thinking allows him to get the drop on Linda with his drone, giving Charity her opening to dispatch Linda. Nicky ends the film with Stephanie and Miles, seemingly content to be raised by her while his mother remains at large.

Dante Versano

Emily’s Old Boyfriend Returns In Another Simple Favor

Dante Versano is Emily’s fiancée in Another Simple Favor, with their wedding (and the fallout of his death) serving as the driving force of the film’s plot. Dante met Faith while they were both young, shortly after she killed her father and went on the run. Using a false name, Faith befriended Dante and the two became a very public couple — which helped distract people from Dante’s pᴀssionate affair with the son of a rival crime family. Wary of being exposed for her true idenтιтy, Faith fled Italy and left Dante behind.

After her arrest as Emily, Dante learns her true idenтιтy and arranges for her to be released from prison with the help of his lawyers. Dante and Emily’s marriage is set to create a lasting peace between the Verasno’s and the rival families, only for Dante to be murdered by Charity the night of their wedding. It’s a tragic end for Dante, who isn’t just sH๏τ but ultimately falls backwards into a storage unit full of fireworks just before they all explode.

Portia Versano

Emily’s New Mother-In-Law Is One Of Another Simple Favor’s Most Dangerous Characters

Portia is Dante’s mother and becomes Emily’s mother-in-law over the course of Another Simple Favor. The matriarch of a powerful crime family, Portia and her followers are feared by the locals and targeted by organizations like Interpol and the FBI. Portia is against Dante’s marriage to Emily, often mocking her and even arranging for Linda and Margaret to attend the wedding as a means of annoying Emily. In reality, this brought Charity into their orbit, inadvertently leading to Dante’s death.

Despite her vindictive side and her ruthless nature as a mob boss, Portia does seem to find a level of mutual respect with Emily by the end of the film. She even claims that Emily is now and forever a member of their family, which means she must also carry out ᴀssignments that the family requests of her. This sets the stage for a prospective sequel to Another Simple Favor that dives more into the Versano family and their criminal connections.