It Ends With Us

The It Ends With Us cast is led by Blake Lively in the lead role but features a number of other notable talents.

It Ends With Us Cast News

Lily

Blake Lively

news

Atlas

Brandon Sklenar

Allysa

Jenny Slate

Marshall

Hasan Minhaj

Ryle

Justin Baldoni

When Colleen Hoover penned her bestselling novel, It Ends with Us, in 2016, it was just a matter of time before Hollywood chose to turn the novel into a movie. The novel was quite popular when it was released, winning the Goodreads Choice Award for best romance novel.

In fact, the book was so popular that in 2022, six years after the book was published, it again jumped to the number one spot on the New York Times bestseller list. If that doesn’t have feature film written all over it, we don’t know what does.

The Novel Was Optioned Three Years Ago

So, even before the novel hit the bestseller list for the second time, filmmaker and actor Justin Baldoni optioned the book through his Wayfarer Entertainment production company in hopes of turning it into a feature film. Baldoni, who is best known for playing Rafael Solano on the CW hit series, Jane the Virgin, is no stranger to setting up shop behind the camera, as well. He directed 8 episodes of My Last Days and was also behind the camera for the features Five Feet Apart and Clouds.

After optioning Hoover’s novel, Baldoni took to his Instagram account to announce the option, informing fans, “So excited to be working with the brilliant @coleenhoover to try to bring #ItEndsWithUs to the big screen!!! I’m so passionate about this book and so honored she chose me to help bring it to the world.”

Patience and Persistence Pays Off

We are probably not breaking any news here by saying that trying to get movies made in Hollywood these days can be trying and most definitely requires some patience. There are endless stories of great scripts sitting in development hell for one reason or another. So, four years (which is what it’s been since Baldoni first optioned the book), might sound like a long time, but in Hollywood, it really isn’t.

Baldoni, along with Hoover, definitely deserves credit for their persistence. Baldoni developed Hoover’s book, then handed it off to scribe Christy Hall (I’m Not Okay with This) for the full treatment. It didn’t take Hall long to complete the job. Baldoni then took to Instagram one more time to give fans an update on the completed script, where he also spoke about 10 lucky fans chosen to be a part of the script reading.

Baldoni captioned his post with, “A huge thank you to the thousands of LA area fans of It Ends With Us for submitting and for the ten we chose to join us for the special reading of the script.”

Baldoni captioned his post with, “A huge thank you to the thousands of LA area fans of It Ends With Us for submitting and for the ten we chose to join us for the special reading of the script.”

It Ends with Us Casting

After the script was complete, Baldoni went about casting his movie. Although he is sitting in the director’s chair for this one, he will also be playing Ryle Kincaid in the film. Baldoni got the services of Blake Lively to play Lily Bloom, with Brandon Sklenar as Atlas Corrigan, Jenny Slate as Allysa, and Hasan Minhaj as Marshall.

The film follows Lily Bloom, a recent college graduate who has since moved and is ready to begin her new life. Lily then meets Ryle Kincaid and after some time, begins to fall in love with him. Of course, things like love can’t be easy, and for Lily, they are not. Especially when her first love, Atlas Corrigan, shows up to become a wedge between Lily and Ryle.

The Writer’s Strike Halts Production

Production of It Ends with Us was halfway through its production schedule when the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) strike went into effect. This forced the shutdown of most of Hollywood and no new productions could begin. The producers of Baldoni’s film tried to convince the WGA that because of Wayfarer Studios’ co-financing status, the film was within the guidelines of the WGA. Unfortunately, the WGA did not see it their way and production was forced to stop. As soon as the WGA strike is over, production on It Ends with Us will resume.

It Ends With Us Is A Romance Novel

It Ends with Us was first a bestselling novel (twice!). Now, we are not sure how much the final film will deviate from the book, so here is what Hoover’s novel is all about.

The novel tells the story of Lily Bloom, a young college graduate who finds herself relocating to Boston to start her own floral business. As she gains her footing in the city, she meets Boston surgeon, Ryle Kincaid. Now Ryle is not open for business, but as he gets to know Lily better, his defense against relationships begins to fade.

Love starts to bloom between the two and that is when Lily’s first true love, Atlas Corrigan, reenters the picture. Immediately Ryle is threatened by Atlas. Lily also begins to doubt what she has with Ryle for what she had with Atlas.

Not wanting to give away too much more of the novel’s plot, Lily finds herself having to make more than just one tough decision. She also has to deal with her past colliding with her future as domestic abuse enters the picture, which makes her unexpectedly getting pregnant even worse. That is all we will say about the plot of the book.

How much the movie’s script will follow the book is anyone’s guess. But the novel, according to Hoover, was based on the relationship between her parents and the abusive household she grew up in. She says, via Film Daily, that it was “the hardest book I’ve ever written. . . With this one, I was approaching a very touchy subject from an angle that isn’t taken a lot. There were many times I wanted to change the story because I didn’t want to take the characters to the places I was going to take them, but I knew I needed to.”

Colleen Hoover is no stranger to best sellers. She published her first novel in 2012 (Slammed) and since that time has been a frequent contributor to The New York Times bestseller list. The mother of three (all boys) has written novels like This Girl, Losing Hope, Finding Cinderella, Ugly Love, Confess, and Regretting You. It Ends With Us was such a big hit that earlier this year, Hoover published the sequel, titled It Starts With Us.

2022 was a big year for Hoover, as not only did she publish her sequel, but she held six of the top 10 spots on The New York Times bestseller list. That’s a tough feat for anyone, including authors such as Stephen King, JK Rowling, and James Patterson. Since 2012, Hoover has written 24 novels which include four novellas.

Fans of the book will have to be a little more patient, as will the WGA writers. There is no timetable set for when the strike will end, but fingers are crossed that it will be soon. Until that time, production of the film will, like the rest of Hollywood, remain dark.