The courtroom saga that has overshadowed everything about "It Ends With Us" isn't slowing down.
A federal judge has now set a trial date of March 2026 in the dueling lawsuits between Blake Lively and her co-star and director Justin Baldoni, per multiple reports, meaning the industry gets nearly a year of depositions, document dumps, and dueling PR before a jury ever sits down.
For anyone who lost the thread: Lively sued Baldoni in December, alleging sexual harassment on set and a coordinated effort to damage her reputation.
Baldoni countersued, accusing her and Ryan Reynolds of attempting a smear campaign of their own.
Both sides deny wrongdoing, and the judge has already warned lawyers about trying the case in the press.
What makes this update genuinely wild is the discovery phase.
Subpoenas are reportedly reaching into phone records, text threads, and crisis-PR playbooks, which means we may eventually see the receipts behind Hollywood's most carefully worded statements.
Insiders say several high-profile names connected to the production could be pulled into depositions, and that's before anyone even talks about the marketing feud that had fans picking sides last summer.
Meanwhile, the movie itself refuses to die. "It Ends With Us" keeps pulling streaming numbers months after release, and every legal filing sends a fresh wave of viewers back to it.
That's the strange new math of 2025: scandal doesn't just sell tickets, it resurrects them.
TikTok has basically become a courthouse overflow room, with creators dissecting filings frame by frame like they're season finale clues.
Reynolds, for his part, has stayed mostly quiet publicly while promoting his own projects.
Lively has leaned into fashion and family content, letting her legal team do the talking.
Baldoni's camp has been more vocal on social media, which some crisis experts say is a risky move with a trial date now locked in.
Every post becomes potential exhibit material.
The bigger story here is what this case signals about power in Hollywood.
For years, on-set disputes were settled quietly with NDAs and mutual silence.
This one went nuclear instead, and the ripple effects are already showing up in how studios handle intimacy coordinators, script rewrites, and cast conflicts.
Agents are reportedly adding clauses to contracts that address exactly this kind of public meltdown.
There's also the fandom angle nobody can ignore.
BookTok built "It Ends With Us" into a phenomenon, and that same community is now split down the middle, with hashtags flying and loyalties hardening.
Whichever way the verdict lands, a chunk of that audience will feel betrayed.
That's a marketing problem no sequel can fix.
Between now and then, expect leaked emails, cryptic Instagram captions, and at least one viral courtroom sketch.
Hollywood loves a slow burn, and this one is being served in weekly installments.
The uncomfortable truth is that everyone involved has already lost something, whether it's privacy, reputation, or the simple ability to promote a project without a legal disclaimer attached.
If this trial changes how studios protect their stars, it will have done more than any HR memo ever could.
Final Thoughts
The real verdict may come from the industry itself, long before the jury speaks.