How did Justin Baldoni come to direct Blake Lively in ‘It Ends With Us’ — and is there still the possibility of a sequel?

As Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni prepare to duke it out in court, fans of their hit film It Ends With Us are left wondering what this means for what was thought to be an inevitable sequel.

The film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling book was a box office hit over the summer and found streaming success, too. However, Lively and Baldoni’s dueling lawsuits confirm the two will never work together again.

So, how did Baldoni get involved in the film in the first place? Where does the studio stand? And what does this mean for the film’s sequel It Starts With Us? Here’s what we know.

Baldoni sent Hoover ‘a really lovely letter’ about her book

In 2019, Baldoni’s production company, Wayfarer Studios, bought the rights to adapt Hoover’s bestselling novel. While promoting the film in August, Hoover recalled how he first got in contact with her about the project.

“He sent me a really lovely letter saying how much the book meant to him,” the author told Yahoo Entertainment. “And as we kind of went along in the process, he was like, ‘Oh, I think I might want to direct this also.’ He had just finished [directing] Five Feet Apart. I watched it and I was like, ‘Oh you did such a good job with that movie. I feel like you would do a good job with this one.”

Originally, Baldoni was not signed to play the role of Ryle Kincaid, the troubled love interest of Lively’s character Lily.

“The idea of him playing Ryle came up and so he struggled a little bit,” Hoover added, recalling how Baldoni wasn’t sure if he could “take on all of these roles and do a good job.”

“As you can see, he pulled it off,” she said.

Baldoni also has the rights to sequel

The rights to Hoover’s It Starts With Us also belong with Wayfarer. But after the press caught wind of Baldoni and Lively’s dispute in August — despite many details being unknown — sources told Variety that the sequel is in doubt.

“This is uncharted territory, and nobody has any idea of what a sequel could look like,” an insider claimed. “There’s probably no world where these two will work together again.”

That puts it mildly.

Lively is suing Baldoni for alleged sexual harassment, misconduct, retaliation and more. He denies this and is expected to file a countersuit against the actress any day now. Baldoni has already sued the New York Times for $250 million over how they reported on her 80-page complaint. (The Times says it will fight the lawsuit.) Baldoni’s attorney confirmed they plan to sue the actress soon. Lively and Baldoni have accused each other’s publicity teams of planting negative stories.

Although Baldoni has the film rights to It Starts With Us, he indicated in August that he did not want to direct it.

“I think there are better people for that one,” he told Entertainment Tonight on Aug. 6. “I think Blake Lively is ready to direct. That’s what I think.”

Although Baldoni and Lively have very different takes on what went down on set, what’s not disputed is that the two had creative differences over the final cut of It Ends With Us. Sony, which distributed the film, reportedly went with Lively’s version.

Does Sony have any power?

According to the Variety report, Sony has the automatic option to distribute a theoretical run of It Starts With Us, but can’t do anything without Wayfarer’s involvement. Sony has backed Lively, both over the summer when rumors of a rift between her and Baldoni first surfaced and after she went public with her harassment and retaliation allegations in December.

“Blake, Colleen and so many women put so much effort into this remarkable movie, working selflessly from the start to ensure that such an important subject matter was handled with care. Audiences love the movie. Blake’s passion and commitment to advancing the conversation around domestic violence is commendable,” Sony Pictures chairman and CEO Tony Vinciquerra told the Hollywood Reporter in August. “We love working with Blake, and we want to do 12 more movies with her.”

On Dec. 23, Sony issued another statement after Lively accused Baldoni and his publicists of orchestrating an online smear campaign against her.

“We have previously expressed our support for Blake in connection with her work on and for the film,” a Sony spokesperson said. “We fully and firmly reiterate that support today. Further, we strongly condemn any reputational attacks on her. Any such attacks have no place in our business or in a civil society.”

It Ends With Us was successful in its theatrical run and on streaming

In any other situation, a sequel would be fast-tracked. The film brought in $350 million worldwide at the box office. That’s on a $25 million budget. Since its Netflix release on Dec. 9, It Ends With Us has been one of the top 10 most popular movies in the U.S.

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