The It Ends With Us Lawsuit That Turned Hollywood’s Biggest Romance Film Into a Courtroom Drama

It Ends With Us, a story about domestic abuse based on Colleen Hoover’s best-selling novel, debuted in theaters in August 2024 as one of those rare movies that seemed to instantly connect with a huge audience. Blake Lively starred in the film, which was directed by Justin Baldoni, who also played the male lead. The box office receipts were impressive. There was a lot of discussion on social media. Almost immediately, viewers began to notice something strange: the two main characters in the movie weren’t ever seen together. No joint press appearances. Red carpets are not shared. There were no interviews where the star and director had the kind of chemistry you would expect. Fans started openly speculating about what had happened between them because their absence was so noticeable.

The conjecture had an answer by December 2024. Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment on the movie set and claimed that his production company, Wayfarer Studios, had hired a crisis public relations firm to plan a coordinated smear campaign against her after she voiced concerns about the alleged misconduct. She filed a civil rights complaint in California and then a federal lawsuit in Manhattan. Baldoni filed a lawsuit against the New York Times on the same day Lively filed hers, alleging the newspaper had defamed him in an article outlining Lively’s claims. In January 2025, he filed a defamation and extortion lawsuit against Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds. In June, that countersuit was dismissed.

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There has been a significant narrowing of the legal battlefield. Ten of Lively’s thirteen initial claims, including the accusations of sexual harassment, defamation, and conspiracy, were dismissed by U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman on April 2, 2026. The logic was important but technical: Since Lively was an independent contractor rather than an employee on the movie, she is ineligible for some employee protections that would have bolstered those allegations. Three claims remain for the May 18 trial in New York: aiding and abetting retaliation against The Agency Group PR, the crisis communications firm Wayfarer hired, and breach of contract and retaliation against Wayfarer Studios. The dismissed claims, according to Lively’s lawyer Michael Gottlieb, were dropped on “legal issues rather than an endorsement of the defendants’ conduct,” but they had always been “the beating heart” of the case. The optics of losing ten out of thirteen claims before trial are hard to handle, regardless of how you describe them. However, it’s possible that framing is genuine frustration rather than spin.

The jury’s actual testimony is currently being negotiated by both sides. Reynolds, her sister Robyn Lively, Jenny Slate and Isabela Ferrer from the movie’s cast, Colleen Hoover via deposition, a number of PR and digital strategy figures, and several expert witnesses anticipated to discuss reputational damage and social media activity are all on Lively’s extensive list of witnesses. Reynolds is anticipated to testify regarding alleged retaliation and damages, as well as the production and promotion of the movie. Baldoni, who was dropped as a named defendant following the dismissal but is still connected to the entities being sued, confirmed through his lawyer that he plans to testify in order to, in his words, deny accusations of a smear campaign. The most noteworthy aspect of Baldoni’s most recent filing is a motion requesting the judge to suppress testimony from Slate and Hoover, claiming that Hoover “had no contractual right to participate in the film and was not present on set” and that Slate’s complaint regarding a remark Baldoni made—that she looked “sexy” in her character’s leather pants—was promptly settled on set.

It’s difficult to ignore how much of this case has turned into a disagreement over what the jury is permitted to see and hear, which is frequently where the true legal struggles in high-stakes cases take place. Lively’s team is looking for a comprehensive picture of Baldoni’s behavior—basically, a pattern. Baldoni’s team wants the jury to concentrate only on the remaining contract and retaliation claims, excluding what his lawyers refer to as a “grab bag” of evidence intended to discredit him rather than establish a particular legal infraction.

As this develops, there’s a sense that the trial, which starts in May, will be entirely different from the case that was filed in December 2024. A judicial order has reduced what began as a broad set of accusations involving sexual harassment, a planned public smear, and conspiracy to a contract dispute and retaliation claims. Lively is still requesting significant damages, with estimates ranging from $142 million to almost $300 million. It is anticipated that the trial will last about fifteen days. Baldoni and Lively have both stated that they will testify. A New York jury will now spend two and a half weeks attempting to resolve whatever transpired between them during the film’s production and what was done after.