The legal showdown that turned a press tour into a full-blown Hollywood war just got its next chapter.
A federal judge has set a firm trial date in the dueling lawsuits between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, meaning the *It Ends With Us* feud is officially headed from tabloid fodder straight to a courtroom in 2026.
For anyone who somehow missed the saga: Lively filed a complaint accusing Baldoni, her director and co-star, of sexual harassment and of orchestrating a smear campaign against her.
Baldoni fired back with his own suit, denying everything and accusing Lively and her team of trying to hijack the film and torch his reputation.
Both sides have been trading filings like it's a tennis match, and the scheduling order just removed any hope of a quiet, behind-the-scenes settlement.
The judge also weighed in on a gag-order-style dispute, with both camps accusing the other of trying the case in the press.
Translation: expect more carefully worded statements, more leaked "sources," and at least a few eyebrows raised at whatever celebrity shows up on the witness list.
What makes this one different from your average Hollywood contract spat is the collateral damage.
The movie's box office, the on-set drama that leaked, and the sheer volume of receipts — texts, emails, crisis-PR strategy docs — have kept the internet fed for months.
Fashion-wise, it's been a strange bonus: Lively's floral press-tour looks became their own story, now retroactively reread as a costume in a much darker narrative.
Neither side is backing down, and neither is the internet.
Every new court filing spawns a fresh round of TikTok breakdowns, Reddit deep dives, and debates over who's telling the truth.
Fans who bought tickets expecting a romance novel adaptation got a legal thriller instead.
The trial date is the real headline here.
It locks both stars into a years-long commitment of depositions, discovery, and public scrutiny — the kind of thing that reshapes careers regardless of the verdict.
Hollywood loves a comeback arc, but it also has a long memory. **Our take:** This is the rare celebrity lawsuit where the court of public opinion will hand down its verdict long before a jury does.
Final Thoughts
Whoever "wins" legally, the reputational math is brutal for everyone involved — and the only guaranteed winner is the PR industry.