The courtroom saga that has shadowed "It Ends With Us" since last summer is far from over, and this week it delivered another jolt.
A judge has now set the stage for what could be a bruising months-long discovery phase, meaning both sides will soon be trading documents, depositions, and receipts in a way fans have never seen before.
For anyone who lost the thread: Lively sued Baldoni and his production company in late 2024, alleging sexual harassment on set and a coordinated smear campaign against her.
Baldoni fired back with his own suit, denying everything and accusing her and Ryan Reynolds of attempting to hijack the film.
It is messy, expensive, and playing out in public.
With a trial date now on the calendar, both legal teams are barreling toward the part of litigation where private messages, emails, and behind-the-scenes footage can surface.
That is the phase that tends to produce the headlines everyone screenshots.
The internet, predictably, has picked a side and dug in.
TikTok is flooded with breakdowns of every filing, Reddit threads run hundreds of comments deep, and the discourse has split cleanly along fandom lines.
Some viewers see a powerful woman being punished for speaking up; others see a director whose career was torched before a single claim was tested.
Here is what makes this case unusual for Hollywood: neither side is quietly settling.
Most celebrity disputes end with a muted joint statement and a nondisclosure agreement.
This one keeps escalating, with new motions landing like episode drops.
The result is a slow-burn legal thriller that streams for free, updated daily.
Studios are watching nervously. "It Ends With Us" was a hit, but the franchise potential is now tangled in a courtroom, and the film's cast has largely gone silent.
Agents and publicists around town are using it as a case study in what happens when a press tour sours and the group chat goes public.
There is also a cultural thread here that keeps the story trending.
The allegations sit at the intersection of two live debates: how Hollywood treats women who report misconduct, and how quickly online mobs can destroy a reputation with or without proof.
That tension is why the case refuses to fade, even months after the initial shock wore off.
Expect the noise to spike again whenever a new document drops.
Discovery is where carefully managed narratives tend to crack, and both camps have spent a year polishing theirs.
The next few months could reshape how this story is remembered, and whether either career fully recovers.
Our take: the truth here will not be settled by a viral clip or a well-timed leak.
Courtrooms are slow, boring, and unkind to hot takes, which is exactly why this one matters.
Final Thoughts
Whatever the verdict, the real damage may already be done.