Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni to star in Colleen Hoover’s ‘It Ends With Us’ movie adaptation

On Instagram Thursday, best-selling author Colleen Hoover announced that the film adaptation of her popular novel, “It Ends With Us,” has been cast. Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni will star as Lily and Ryle, the lead characters.

Baldoni, who is also directing the film, will portray the abusive neurosurgeon husband to Lively’s Lily, who grew up in an abusive home and hopes to end the cycle of abuse in her life and her family. Eventually, she finds comfort with her childhood love, Atlas (no casting news for his character yet).

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“Our Lily is going to be played by Blake Lively,” Hoover shared in her Instagram video. “Blake Lively, y’all. She’s my dream Lily. And then when I first met Justin Baldoni, who is directing the film for ‘It Ends With Us,’ I immediately wanted him to be Ryle.”

(Raise your hand if part of you doesn’t want to see Rafael Solano in a villainous role.)

“I just thought that he had what it takes to play that character, and the good news is he’s gonna be Ryle,” she continued, adding that she knows the actors have what it takes to bring the characters to life.

“It Ends With Us” is loosely based on Hoover’s own life and upbringing. In the video, she drives to her childhood home that she shared with her mom and talks about it with viewers.

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Hoover said she wants everyone to know “how appreciative I am to my mother, who got us out of a scary situation when I was little and brought us to this house.” She ended her video by saying, “The little girl who used to sleep in that bedroom thanks you for all the support…Blake Lively. Blake Lively. I can’t say it enough.”

Lively herself shared a caption-less photo in her Instagram Story on Thursday, showing herself with dark hair reminiscent of Lily’s.

Though the book has held the number one spot on the New York Times bestseller list, “It Ends With Us” has faced valid criticism from readers. [Warning: spoilers ahead.]

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Some readers have said Lily seemingly excuses Ryle’s abuse in the end and allows him to be a present and involved father to their daughter despite proving himself to be a calculated, plotting, violent monster more than once. (Personally, I read the book, and would have preferred it to end with Lily moving on without Ryle involved in her or her daughter’s life at all—I would have felt far more inclined to cheer for her story that way. I mean, this was a man who has a history of being violent with women. Point blank. Instead, there were times I felt many red flags were romanticized in a way that was perhaps relatable for those who have been in toxic or abusive relationships, but the anti-feminist message, in the end, left me disappointed. As a mother and someone who was abused by my own parent, to say I don’t agree with Lily’s parenting decisions is an understatement. Though it is not, of course, the responsibility of any author to create moral characters who make good decisions in order for a story to be compelling. FWIW, I absolutely hated “Verity.”)

No word yet on when “It Ends With Us” will continue casting or begin filming, but it already looks like it’s going to be a great movie, no matter how you feel about the story itself.