In ‘Immaculate’, Sydney Sweeney is (actually) mother

There comes a point in every screen siren’s career when they have to pop on a scapula and give nun-ing a whirl. There’s Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music, Amy Adams in Doubt, and Margaret Qualley in Novitiate. And now there’s Sydney Sweeney in Immaculate too. The Neon film follows Cecilia (Sweeney) as she begins to discover the “dark and horrifying secrets” of the Italian convent she recently moved to. In the trippy, creepy trailer that was released today, Sweeney not only makes the sign of the cross, but is subject to a spooky immaculate conception and a myriad of other horrible (and probably blasphemous) things. 

In short, it’s a bit of a departure from Sweeney’s recent role in Anyone But You – director Will Gluck’s reprise of the classic romcom – and Madame Web, which has been making the rounds on X this week thanks to its godawful marketing.

Anyone who’s a fan of watching rich people go through rich people problems will notice that Immaculate is something of a White Lotus crossover. Italian actress Simona Tabasco – who made waves as Lucia Greco in the second series of The White Lotus – will star opposite Sweeney, who starred in season one. And Tabasco will join a cast that includes Money Heist’s Álvaro Morte and The Hand of God’s Dora Romano.

The best news is we don’t actually have to wait too long for Immaculate: it hits US cinemas on March 22nd and will (hopefully) land in the UK soon after. And if the PR people at Neon are anything like the ones that worked on Anyone But You, we’ll probably spend the next two months being bombarded with cutesy videos of Immaculate’s stars doing stuff like “Nun ASMR” and Nun-themed Q&As. If we don’t, there’s no better way to pass the time than brushing up on other prominent entries into the nunsploitation genre. If you’re more horror inclined, look no further than the 2017 film Verónica, which was, for some, one of Netflix’s scariest films. If you want your nuns to have a sexy slant, it’s Paul Verhoen’s Benedetta, which is loosely based on the 1985 book Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy. Finally, if you don’t want to run the risk of having to repent, just stick to The Sound of Music.