Colleen Hoover’s ‘It Ends With Us’ Movie Just Scored a Major Hollywood A-Lister to Play Lily
Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel It Ends With Us has a film adaptation in the works. It’s a deeply personal story loosely based on the relationship between her mother and father, and it follows a woman named Lily who finds love when she moves to a new city after college graduation. However, her world is turned upside down when an ex-lover comes back into her life. Which Hollywood A-lister will take on this starring role? The author just shared that news with fans on social media.
Colleen Hoover’s novel was optioned in 2019
A film adaptation of It Ends With Us went into development more than three years ago when the novel was optioned in the summer 2019. Filmmaker and actor Justin Baldoni — best known for playing Rafael Solano on Jane the Virgin — revealed on social media that he had optioned the book through his Wayfarer Entertainment production company.
“So excited to be working with the brilliant @coleenhoover to try to bring #ItEndsWithUs to the big screen!!!” Baldoni wrote on Instagram. “I’m so passionate about this book and so honored she chose me to help bring it to the world.”
In October 2021, Baldoni and Hoover posted a clip on TikTok revealing the film officially had a completed script. And there were 10 lucky fans who were chosen to be part of the script reading.
Other than a completed script, there were no other updates about the It Ends With Us movie until the end of January. That’s when Hoover took to Instagram to let fans in on some major casting news — they have officially found their Lily.
‘It Ends With Us’ movie just scored a major Hollywood A-lister to star as Lily
While standing outside of her childhood home — where her mom took her to get her out of a “scary situation” — Hoover made the announcement.
“Our Lily is going to be played by Blake Lively. Blake Lively, y’all. She’s my dream Lily,” Hoover said, before adding that Baldoni would be playing Lily’s love interest Ryle and directing the film. “I just thought that he had what it takes to play that character. The good news is he’s gonna be Ryle. So we have our Ryle and our Lily.”
Hoover’s main character grew up in a small town in Maine before graduating from college and moving to Boston to start her own business. Lily has always worked hard for what she wants in life, and she quickly finds success in her career and in love. Sparks fly right away with a handsome neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, and Lily starts to believe that life is too good to be true.
Colleen Hoover had to take the characters to difficult places in ‘It Ends With Us’
Ryle is an assertive, stubborn, sensitive, and brilliant man who “has a total soft spot” for Lily. He does have an aversion to relationships, but she becomes the exception to his “no dating” rule. However, when Lily’s first love, Atlas Corrigan, suddenly reappears in her life, he threatens everything Lily has built with Ryle.
“Sometimes it is the one who loves you who hurts you the most,” reads the book’s description.
Hoover told Film Daily that It Ends With Us was “the hardest book” she’s ever written. She says she was approaching a “very touchy subject from an angle that isn’t taken a lot,” and there were times she had to take the characters to difficult places.
“There were many times I wanted to change the story because I didn’t want to take the characters to the places I was going to take them, but I knew I needed to,” Hoover said.
A release date for It Ends With Us has not yet been announced. The project is currently still being developed by Wayfarer Studios and Sony Pictures.
