It Ends With Us adaptation casts Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni

Colleen Hoover’s 2016 bestselling novel It Ends With Us is getting its very own film adaptation with Blake Lively (A Simple Favor) and Justin Baldoni (Jane The Virgin) set to star, according to Deadline. Baldoni will also be directing and producing the project under his banner Wayfarer Studios for Sony Pictures.

Gaining traction within the ‘BookTok’ community on TikTok, It Ends With Us follows Lily (Lively), a recent college graduate who moves to Boston and meets a doctor named Ryle (Baldoni). As her relationship with Ryle begins to develop, Lily thinks back to memories of her first love, Atlas. When Atlas returns back into her life, “everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened,” reads the book’s description on Simon and Schuster’s website.

While the novel has grown in popularity, criticisms of It Ends With Us’ depiction of domestic violence have been often voiced online. Recently, Hoover came under controversy when reports that a coloring book based around It Ends With Us was to be released, with many fans of the novel speaking out against the odd choice. Ultimately, Atria Books later announced they would “not move forward” with The Official It Ends With Us Coloring Book in a statement on their Twitter. Posting an apology to her Instagram stories, Hoover said the book was “developed with Lily’s strength in mind, but I can absolutely see how this was tone-deaf. I hear you guys and I agree with you.”

Adapting the screenplay will be Christy Hall, who recently developed and wrote for the Netflix series I Am Not Okay With This. Hall is also a producer on the project, along with Alex Saks for Saks Picture Company and Jamey Heath with Wayfarer Studios. Lively, Baldoni, and Hoover will be executive producers, as well as Steve Sarowitz and Andrew Calof.

Known for her roles in the wealthy teen series Gossip Girl and in the thriller-comedy A Simple Favor, Lively will next be making her directorial debut with a film adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel Seconds. Baldoni, who starred as heartthrob Rafael Solano in the CW’s Jane The Virgin, has ventured into directing with 2019's Five Feet Apart and the 2020 musical drama Clouds.