Watch the Official Trailer for ‘It Ends With Us’

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After staking her flag in the rolling hills of BookTok, bestselling author Colleen Hoover is taking her empire to Hollywood, and she’s bringing Blake Lively with her. Her smash-hit sensation It Ends With Us has more than just a film deal; it has Lively as the star, set to play protagonist Lily in the “romance,” even if that genre label might be something of a misnomer. (We’ll get to that in a bit.) In the meantime, here’s what little we know about the movie so far.

Who’s in the cast of It Ends With Us?

Lively, of Gossip Girl infamy, will star as Lily, the film’s lead and the central figure in Hoover’s chart-topping book. Isabela Ferrer will play a younger Lily.

Other cast members include: Jane the Virgin alum Justin Baldoni as Ryle, a neurosurgeon and Lily’s love interest; 1923 breakout star Brandon Skenlar as Atlas Corrigan, Lily’s high school love interest; Alex Neustaedter as a young Atlas; Jenny Slate as Allysa, Ryle’s sister; and Hasan Minhaj as Marshall, Allyssa’s husband and Ryle’s best friend.

Baldoni also serves as the film’s director, as well as an executive producer alongside Lively and Hoover.

What’s the movie about?

Based on Hoover’s book—which helped the author outsell the actual Bible in 2022—the film will follow a Boston flower-shop owner recently out of college. At the time we meet her, Lily is struggling over the death of her abusive father. But then she meets Ryle, a handsome doctor with whom she sparks an immediate rapport. Although he’s not interested in any form of real commitment, he eventually agrees to something like a relationship between the two of them. Initially, their love affair is electric, but it’s not long before his arrogance gives way to violence. As the film’s synopsis describes, “Lily begins to see sides of Ryle that remind her of her parents’ relationship" and the traumatic childhood she overcame.”

As such, the story is tricky to classify as a “romance,” even if millions of fans, a.k.a CoHorts, find it profound. A tale consumed with the thorny dynamics of love and abuse, It Ends With Us has also earned its fair share of criticism for, intentionally or not, glorifying domestic abuse—or at least irresponsibly framing it. (A coloring book version of It Ends With Us, for instance, was pulled after serious backlash.)

Nevertheless, as Lively told People in April 2024, “Lily resonated with an enormous amount of people, as the success of the book made clear. Stepping into a character who’s had such a meaningful impact is an honor to take on. I loved Lily, and I hope that love is felt by those who care about her like I do, and also those who are getting to know her for the first time in this film.”

When does It Ends With Us come out?

In early July 2023, Sony Pictures announced the film would be released on February 9, 2024, Deadline reported. In January 2024, it was pushed to June 21, and then in April it was moved once again to a (hopefully) final release date of August 9.

Can I get a sneak peek?

Sony Pictures released the official trailer for It Ends With Us in May 2024, finally giving fans a two-and-a-half minute look at what’s to come. Naturally, Taylor Swift’s “My Tears Ricochet’” plays in the background of the clip.

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