The Shallows star Blake Lively and Jane the Virgin alum Justin Baldoni have been tapped for the leading roles in Sony Pictures’ upcoming film adaptation of It Ends with Us, based on Colleen Hoover’s romance novel of the same name.
According to Deadline, Lively and Baldoni are set to play the respective roles of Lily Bloom and Ryle Kincaid. Lively is no stranger to the romance genre, as she previously starred in the 2015 film The Age of Adaline, which featured her portraying a woman who stops aging. Apart from It Ends with Us, The Gossip Girl vet will also next be seen in Paul Feig’s A Simple Favor sequel.
It Ends with Us will be directed by Baldoni from a screenplay written by Christy Hall (I Am Not Ok With This). The actor and director acquired the rights to the novel in 2019 with Wayfarer Studios. Hoover is also attached as a consultant in the project.
The book’s official synopsis reads: “Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town where she grew up — she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. And when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life seems too good to be true.
Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his ‘no dating’ rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.
As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan –her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.”
The film adaptation will be executive produced by Lively, Baldoni, Hoover, Steve Sarowitz, and Andrew Calof, with Hall, Alex Saks, and Jamey Heath serving as producers.
