It Ends With Us Release Date, Cast, Director, And More Details

It's been a minute since Blake Lively appeared in a movie or TV show. The former "Gossip Girl" cast member made her last screen appearance in the 2020 action thriller, "The Rhythm Section," in which she plays a woman who sets out to avenge the orchestrated demise of her family. The Reed Morano-directed film famously features a scene that almost put an end to Lively's stunt career, and while that doesn't seem to have been the direct cause of her recent hiatus, the actor hasn't had a role in a single project since "The Rhythm Section."

Fortunately, Lively is set to return in a handful of forthcoming titles, including "It Ends With Us." The film, an adaptation of the popular novel of the same name, will give Lively the chance to make her big-screen comeback in a story about how love and perseverance can lead to someone finally breaking free from certain lifelong cycles. It marks Lively's first role in a complex romantic drama since 2015's "The Age of Adaline."

With all this in mind, here's what you should know about "It Ends With Us," including its release date, plot, director, cast, source material, and more.

In July, Sony Pictures officially set a theatrical release date for "It Ends With Us." As of this writing, the film is scheduled to premiere on February 9, 2024. However, there is a chance the movie's release gets shifted or outright delayed. That's because, according to the last reports we saw, filming for "It Ends With Us" has yet to be completed. 

While production on the film began in May, it was temporarily shut down a month later due to the 2023 WGA Strike. While both that strike and the SAG-AFTRA strike have since been resolved, we're unsure if the movie has started up production again. As a result, the odds of "It Ends With Us" being released in February 2024 seem less than 100%. According to The Hollywood Reporter, just a little over half of the drama was shot before filming halted. As soon as we learn what's happening with the film, we'll be sure to let you know.

"It Ends With Us" follows Lily Bloom, a recent college graduate who moves to Boston with the goal of opening a floral shop. While there, she meets Ryle Kincaid, a successful neurosurgeon with whom she immediately forms a connection. Over time, the two move past their conflicting desires and begin a relationship. But things take a dark turn when Ryle's abusive nature surfaces — forcing Lily into a traumatic situation that makes her rethink her previous perspective on her mother's response to her father's abusive behavior.

Lily's life is made even more difficult when she crosses paths again with Atlas Corrigan — the first man she ever loved — whose renewed presence in her life only further stokes Ryle's possessive, abusive instincts. Through Lily's relationships with Ryle, Atlas, and her parents, "It Ends With Us" explores the lingering, traumatic effects of abuse and how someone can break free from the toxic cycles in their life.

Blake Lively is set to lead "It Ends With Us" as protagonist Lily Bloom, whose journey promises to be just as inspiring as it is difficult. Opposite her, "Jane the Virgin" star Justin Baldoni will portray Ryle Kincaid, the neurosurgeon with whom Lily strikes up a relationship shortly after moving to Boston. As has already been noted by fans of the source material, Lively and Baldoni are older than their characters are described on the page.

In response to those readers' remarks, "It Ends With Us" author Colleen Hoover defended Lively and Baldoni's casting as Lily and Ryle, respectively. "Back when I wrote 'It Ends With Us,' the new adult [genre] was very popular. You were writing college-age characters. That's what I was contracted to do," she noted. "I made Lily very young. I didn't know that neurosurgeons went to school for 50 years. There's not a 20-something neurosurgeon."

"As I started making this movie, I'm like, 'We need to age them out because I messed up,'" the author added, "So that's my fault."

Brandon Sklenar rounds out the core trio as Atlas Corrigan, a past partner of Lily's who reemerges in her life after she starts dating Ryle. Viewers will likely know Sklenar best for his recent breakout turn as Spencer Dutton on the "Yellowstone" prequel series, "1923." The cast of "It Ends With Us" also includes comedian Jenny Slate, who plays Ryle's sister and Lily's close friend, Alyssa, while Hasan Minhaj has been cast as Ryle's best friend and Alyssa's husband, Marshall.

"It Ends With Us" is directed by one of its stars, Justin Baldoni, who plays Ryle Kincaid. It's worth noting this is not the first film Baldoni has directed. It's not even the first romantic drama he's made.

The actor-director made his feature directorial debut in 2019 with "Five Feet Apart," a drama starring Cole Sprouse and Haley Lu Richardson as a pair of teenagers with cystic fibrosis who meet in a hospital and fall in love with each other. A year later, his musical drama "Clouds" was released on Disney+. Now, "It Ends With Us" is set to serve as Baldoni's third feature film. Thanks to his previous directorial efforts, it doesn't seem like the movie's unique mix of intense drama and romance will be unfamiliar to him.

Baldoni quickly shared his excitement about the project when he first announced he was working on the high-profile adaptation in an Instagram post from July 2019. "So excited to be working with the brilliant @colleenhoover to try [to] bring #ItEndsWithUs to the big screen!!!" he wrote. "I'm so passionate about this book and so honored she chose me to help bring it to the world."

"It Ends With Us" will be based on a screenplay by Christy Hall. The screenwriter's previous credits include the short-lived Netflix original series "I Am Not Okay With This," which Hall co-developed with "The End of the F***ing World" director Jonathan Entwistle. Hall also made her directorial debut this year with the Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn-led drama, "Daddio," which she wrote. The film had its world premiere at the 2023 Telluride Film Festival in September and was screened again a little over a week later at the Toronto International Film Festival. It received mostly positive reviews from the critics in attendance.

Additionally, "It Ends With Us" is produced by Justin Baldoni's Wayfarer Entertainment and is set to be distributed by Sony Pictures. According to Deadline, Hall is also attached as a producer on the film, while Baldoni, Colleen Hoover, and Blake Lively serve as executive producers.

"It Ends With Us" is based on a book. The forthcoming romantic drama is an adaptation of the best-selling 2016 novel of the same name by author Colleen Hoover. When it was released, the book received positive reviews. However, it also garnered pushback from certain outlets for its portrayals of abuse and toxic masculinity.

In a 2016 interview with the New York Daily News, Hoover discussed the novel and its story, admitting, "This was by far the hardest book I've ever written." The author addressed the novel's difficult subject matter and explained why she felt the need to explore its topics with as much respect as possible. "This story was inspired by events in my life, but mostly from events in my mother's life," she revealed. "It was very important to me, for that reason, to do her story justice."

Six years after the release of "It Ends With Us," the author unveiled a sequel titled "It Starts With Us." The follow-up focuses on the relationship between Lily and Atlas. As of this writing, no plans to adapt the sequel have been announced. Hollywood's interest in tackling it will probably depend on the box office performance of "It Ends With Us."

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.