Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni fail to reach deal in court that could have settled ‘It Ends With Us’ case

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni will likely go to trial after failing to reach a resolution that could have settled their legal battle in court on Wednesday.

The former It Ends With Us costars appeared in a Manhattan court for a private meeting overseen by Magistrate Judge Sarah Cave. The meeting was intended to encourage both sides to begin negotiating a possible resolution before their trial. Should the trial move forward, it is scheduled for May 18. The two were captured on camera arriving at the courthouse in coincidentally similar outfits, both wearing green jackets with pink accents.

Though Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman told the press outside the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse Wednesday that there is “always a chance” of a settlement, he said that he is “looking forward” to Baldoni’s day in court, per Deadline.

Baldoni’s production company, Wayfarer Studios, has set a court hearing for Thursday related to a separate matter involving Jonesworks PR head Stephanie Jones. It remains uncertain whether either Lively or Baldoni will attend.

Lively and Baldoni have been locked in a he-said, she-said battle that has played out in headlines for more than a year. Lively, the star and producer of the 2024 film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel It Ends With Us, alleges that her costar and director Baldoni created a hostile work environment on set, which included sexual harassment, and retaliated against her with a smear campaign when she spoke up.

Lively initially filed a complaint in California in December 2024, details of which were revealed to the public in a New York Times article titled “We Can Bury Anyone: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.” Later that month, she filed a lawsuit in New York against Baldoni and his company, Wayfarer Studios.

Baldoni, however, strongly denies Lively’s version of events and said that any negative press against the actress was organic. He accused Lively of using bullying and threats to take control of It Ends With Us. In December 2024, he filed a defamation lawsuit against the New York Times, and in January 2025, he filed a civil lawsuit against Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and their PR team. Baldoni’s lawsuits were ultimately dismissed.

The case, however, has played out in the public sphere as well, with private text messages and emails released that have roped in stars like Taylor Swift, Jameela Jamil and Ben Affleck.