Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni Head to Trial After Settlement Talks Fail

Blake Lively and director Justin Baldoni at the New York premiere of It Ends With Us. The co-stars are now headed to a May 2026 jury trial after mediation collapsed. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are now headed toward a May 18, 2026 jury trial after settlement talks failed. By the time Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni walked out of the New York courthouse, there was still no deal.

Justin Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman emerged and told reporters the settlement discussions were “unsuccessful.” With mediation exhausted, both sides are now on a direct path to a jury trial scheduled for May 18, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, with Judge Lewis J. Liman presiding. According to People, jury selection is expected to begin in April, with the trial itself anticipated to last roughly a month.

What This Case Is Actually About

In December 2024, Lively sued Baldoni — her co-star and director on the film adaptation of It Ends With Us — alleging sexual harassment on set and a coordinated smear campaign launched against her in retaliation for speaking out. She is seeking more than $160 million in damages, according to People.

Baldoni countersued Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist Leslie Sloane, accusing them of defamation and extortion. His attorneys have called the claims in Lively’s complaint “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious.” Lively’s legal team dismissed the countersuit as “meritless” and “desperate.” A federal judge later dismissed Baldoni’s countersuit against Reynolds and Sloane.

Ryan Reynolds Steps Into the Spotlight

Ryan Reynolds has remained largely in the background — until the unsealed texts changed that. Court documents made public in January 2026 included private messages from Reynolds that his representative addressed directly, telling reporters that Reynolds “has no regrets” and that, in hindsight, he felt he “wasn’t angry enough” in his defense of his wife, according to People and Forbes.

The texts, sent in the heat of the production conflict, became one of the most discussed elements of the newly released documents. Reynolds is not a named party in the current version of the lawsuit, but his words — now part of the public court record — have kept him squarely in the center of the story.

The Celebrities Caught in the Middle

The unsealed court filings didn’t stop at Lively and Baldoni. According to People, multiple other celebrities were named in the documents — drawn into the dispute through private communications, professional relationships, or alleged involvement in the broader smear campaign Lively described in her complaint.

That list of names deepened the story’s footprint across Hollywood and underscored just how many professional relationships were strained or severed during the It Ends With Us promotional period. Authorities have not confirmed any third-party legal liability, and no additional lawsuits have been filed against the named individuals as of this writing.

What a Trial Would Mean

Legal experts quoted by People have noted that 92 percent of civil cases settle before reaching a jury — and that the Lively-Baldoni case, despite its high profile, is no exception to that statistical reality. The same expert cited the 2022 Depp-Heard trial as the rare case that actually played out in open court.

But the collapse of February’s mediation suggests both sides believe they can win. For Lively, a public trial is an opportunity to present her full account of what she says happened on set. For Baldoni, it is a chance to refute allegations he has consistently denied. Either way, May 18 is now circled on the calendar — and Hollywood is watching.

References: Ryan Reynolds Rep Defends Unsealed Texts in Blake Lively Case | Where Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni Case Stands One Year Later