It Ends With Us: Release date, trailer, cast, plot & more

Kayla Harrington
Blake Lively in It Ends with Us

If you can’t wait for the It Ends with Us release date, we’ve got you covered — here’s what we know so far, including its first trailer, plot details, cast information, and more.

The romantics among us are sure to be seated for the upcoming movie It Ends With Us, the long awaited adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel.

The new movie will have viewers laughing, crying, and more as it takes them through an incredibly intense love story.

But, before you buy your tickets for this romance movie, let’s dig into all you need to know about the new release.

Contents:

When is the It Ends With Us release date?

It Ends With Us is set to release on August 9, 2024.

It Ends With Us book cover

The original plan was for the movie to premiere on February 9, 2024, so it could be near Valentine’s Day. However, the SAG-AFRA and Writers Guild Strikes pushed back production.

When filming resumed, the movie got a new release date of June 21, 2024. Since then, People Magazine confirmed It Ends With Us will officially premiere on August 9, 2024.

Who is in the It Ends With Us cast?

It Ends With Us stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni as the main leads. Brandon Sklenar rounds out the key trio in the movie.

Check out the full It Ends With Us cast list below:

  • Blake Lively as Lily Bloom
  • Justin Baldoni as Ryle Kincaid
  • Brandon Sklenar as Atlas Corrigan
  • Jenny Slate as Allysa
  • Hasan Minhaj as Marshall

Lively is best known for her work on The CW’s hit series Gossip Girl, but she’s starred in several series films since. Her last two roles include the action thriller The Rhythm Section and the deliciously twisted A Simple Flavor.

Most viewers will recognize Baldoni from his dreamy role on Jane the Virgin. He’s actually pulling a double shift on this movie, though, by both starring in and directing it.

The actor is behind the movie’s existence as he optioned Hoover’s work to become a film back in 2019 and offered up his production company — Wayfarer Entertainment — to make it happen. The studio has an impressive roster for 2024, releasing The Garfield Movie, Will and Harper, and Ezra.

Hoover expressed her delight at the casting in an Instagram video, “Our Lily is going to be played by Blake Lively. Blake Lively, y’all! She’s my dream Lily. Then when I first met Justin Baldoni, who is directing the film for It Ends With Us,’ I immediately wanted him to be Ryle. I just thought that he had what it takes to play that character. The good news is he’s going to be Ryle. So we have our Ryle and our Lily.”

Blake Lively in Gossip Girl and Justin Baldoni in Jane the Virgin

However, Lively and Baldoni’s casting upset many fans because they are much older than their characters. Lily was written as a 23-year-old but Lively is 36, while Ryle is written as a 30-year-old and Baldoni is 40.

Hoover addressed this backlash during an interview with Today’s Jenna Bush Hager and revealed that this casting was done to correct a mistake she made while writing Lily and Ryle.

“Back when I wrote It Ends With Us, the new adult [genre] was very popular. You were writing college-age characters,” Hoover explained. “That’s what I was contracted to do. I made Lily very young. I didn’t now that neurosurgeons went to school for 50 years. There’s not a 20-something neurosurgeon.

“As I started making this movie, I’m like, we need to age them out, because I messed up. So that’s my fault.”

Fans of Yellowstone will recognize another key face from the cast here. Brandon Sklenar is one of the stars of the 1923 cast, where he plays Spencer Dutton.

What is It Ends With Us about?

It Ends With Us follows Lily Bloom as she meets and falls in love with Ryle Kincaid, an arrogant yet charming neurosurgeon. As the two build a life together, someone from Lily’s past appears and threatens to uproot everything.

If the movie sticks with the book’s overall premise, it will give audiences a detailed look into a love triangle where Lily must choose whether she wants to stay in her new life with Ryle or confront her past and reconnect with her first love Atlas Corrigan.

Is It Ends With Us based on a book?

It Ends With Us is based on a 2016 romance novel written by Hoover.

The author expressed how hard writing It Ends With Us was because it’s connected to her real life. Hoover has been candid about sharing a similar experience in her own childhood, as Lily is depicted as having grown up with an abusive father.

“My mother and father divorced when I was two. One of my earliest memories was him throwing a TV at her,” Hoover told Hager during an extended interview. “She was able to get out of that relationship. And then from then on, I just remember growing up with a mother who was so strong and independent.”

Hoover also expressed that the book was written with the intention to advocate for domestic abuse survivors and it seems like the message has resonated for some people as she told Time, “I’ve heard from readers who left terrible situations that my books inspired them to do so — that’s the most amazing thing I could ever hope to happen.”

Due to the overwhelming success of the novel, Hoover wrote a follow-up — It Starts With Us — in 2022. The novel picks up right after the events of It Ends With Us and follows the fallout Lily finds herself in with both Ryle and Atlas.

It Starts With Us also saw a ton of success with over 800,000 copies sold within the first day of release and over 1,400,000 ratings on Goodreads.

At this time, Hoover has not confirmed if she will continue the It Ends With Us series with a third book.

It Ends with Us trailer

The first trailer for It Ends with Us dropped on May 16, and you can check it out below:

The trailer follows Lily and Ryle’s fateful meeting and how their romance quickly, intensely blossoms. “But 15 seconds, that’s all it takes to completely change,” Lively’s character says, cueing Taylor Swift’s ‘My Tears Ricochet.’

An earlier first look also includes a karaoke scene, Atlas and Lily reconnecting, Lily on a rooftop, and Ryle and Lily holding each other in an intimate embrace.

Will It Ends With Us be on Netflix?

It Ends With Us will not be on Netflix, at least not at first. It will have a theatrical release.

However, since Sony Pictures, the studio behind the movie’s distribution, has funneled several popular films (Spider-Verse, Uncharted) through the streaming service, there’s a chance that It Ends With Us will wind up there after it releases in theaters.

Will there be a sequel to It Ends With Us in the future?

It Ends With Us could be followed up with its sequel story, It Starts With Us.

It Starts With Us book cover

Since Hoover’s book picks up right when the events of It Ends With Us stops, it’s only logical to assume this would be the follow-up movie if it’s predecessor does well.

Without going into spoilers, It Starts With Us delivers a satisfying love story between the main trio and would leave audiences happy with how events unfold in the sequel.

It Ends With Us will hit theaters on August 9, 2024. In the meantime, check out the movies coming out this month, as well as new films dropping on streaming. If you prefer a little more funny in your romance stories, you could check out these brilliant rom-coms, too.

About The Author

Kayla is a TV and Movies Writer at Dexerto. She's huge fan of Marvel (especially if Wanda Maximoff is involved), shows that make you laugh then cry, and any cooking show found on the Food Network. Before Dexerto, she wrote for Mashable, BuzzFeed, and The Mary Sue. You can contact her at kayla.harrington@dexerto.com