‘It Ends with Us’ Cast: Here’s Who’s Playing Lily, Ryle and Atlas in the Movie Adaptation (2024)

It Ends with Us is finally coming to the big screen eight years after it was published.

The romance novel was penned by Colleen Hoover and tells the story of a young woman named Lily who falls in love with Ryle, a doctor. But after she reconnects with her Altas, her teenage sweetheart, she discovers that Ryle is actually hiding a dark past.

The surge of popularity that It Ends With Us received from the #BookTok community on TikTok helped the book rise to the No. 1 spot on The New York Times' Best Sellers list in 2021, where it stayed for more than 90 weeks, according to Deadline.

Jane the Virgin star Justin Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios optioned the book in 2019, but production on the movie didn't start until May 2023, with Blake Lively in the role of Lily and Baldoni playing Ryle.

During a conversation moderated by Entertainment Tonight in July 2024, Lively and Hoover assured fans that the movie would stay true to the book.

"To honor what you guys love about the story is very important to [Colleen] and, and to be true to that, we're gonna try to do it all right," Lively said.

Hoover agreed that readers would be "very happy" when they see the finished product.

"To actually finally see it happening and happening so soon and the fact that I am so genuinely excited for y'all to see it because they did the book such justice, that's what I'm excited about," the author said. "'Cause as a reader first, you know, we want those movies to reflect the books that we write."

After much anticipation, It Ends With Us will hit theaters on August 9, 2024.

With the release of the movie right around the corner, here’s everything to know about the cast of It Ends with Us.

Blake Lively as Lily Bloom

Blake Lively, 35, is set to bring the novel’s leading lady, Lily Bloom, to life on screen. Lively has already taken steps to transform into Lily, including dyeing her signature blonde hair to portray the outspoken redhead who finds herself caught in a complicated love triangle.

“Our Lily is going to be played by Blake Lively. Blake Lively, y’all. She's my dream Lily,” Hoover announced excitedly on Instagram in January 2023.

This is not the first time that Lively has starred in a famous book adaptation. The actress first rose to fame in 2005 when she appeared as Bridget in the adaptation of Ann Brashares’ beloved novel The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. In 2007, Lively landed another book-inspired project as Serena van der Woodsen on the CW’s Gossip Girl, a teen drama based on the series by Cecily von Ziegesar.

Lively’s other acting credits include starring roles in the action flick Green Lantern (2011), the period drama The Age of Adaline (2015) and the psychological thriller (and book adaptation) A Simple Favor (2018). She drew praise in 2020 for portraying a sex worker turned assassin in The Rhythm Section and plans to reprise her role in the forthcoming sequel to A Simple Favor.

The actress took her turn behind the camera when she directed the music video for Taylor Swift’s “I Bet You Think About Me” in 2021. Her directorial debut earned her nominations for video of the year at the CMA Awards and the ACM Awards. Lively is also set to bring another book to the big screen — but this time, as a director: In April 2022, she signed on to direct the film adaptation of Scott Pilgrim cartoonist Bryan Lee O'Malley's 2014 graphic novel Seconds.

In her personal life, Lively has been married to fellow actor Ryan Reynolds, whom she met on the set of Green Lantern, since 2012. The couple share four children: daughters James, Inez and Betty and son Olin, who was born in 2023.

Justin Baldoni as Ryle Kincaid

Justin Baldoni, 40, takes on the role of Ryle Kincaid — a neurosurgeon with a “complete aversion to relationships,” according to Hoover’s website — who finds himself falling in love with Lily. Baldoni, who optioned It Ends with Us in 2019, is also directing and executive producing the film adaptation.

Hoover herself approved of Baldoni portraying the tall, dark, handsome and complexcharacter. “I just thought that he had what it takes to play that character,” she said when revealing the cast on her Instagram account. “The good news is he’s gonna be Ryle. So we have our Ryle and our Lily.”

As an actor, Baldoni is best known for playing Rafael Solano on the CW series Jane the Virgin from 2014 to 2019. He also has a variety of directing credits under his belt, including the docuseries My Last Days, the 2019 film Five Feet Apart and the 2020 Disney+ movie Clouds. He’s also behind the upcoming live-action Pac-Man movie with his production company, Wayfarer Studios.

Most recently, Baldoni has added “author” to his résumé. In 2021, he published his first book, Man Enough: Undefining My Masculinity, based on his prior talk show and TED Talk of the same name. Baldoni followed that up with Boys Will Be Human in 2022, which became a New York Times Best Seller.

“I often say there’s been no handbook for how to be a young boy or a man in this world — so I did my best to write a version of what that looks like in 2022,” Baldoni wrote on Instagram.

In 2013, Baldoni married Swedish actress Emily Baldoni (née f*ckler), with whom he has two kids: daughter Maiya Grace, born in June 2015, and son Maxwell Roland-Samuel, born in October 2017.

Brandon Sklenar as Atlas Corrigan

Completing Hoover’s love triangle is Brandon Sklenar as Atlas Corrigan, Lily’s high school boyfriend who reappears as she starts her adult life and new relationship.

Sklenar, 34, is best known for portraying Spencer Dutton on the Paramount+ series 1923, a Yellowstone spinoff that debuted in 2022. But the New Jersey native has been acting in films and TV shows since 2011. After a handful of minor roles and appearances, his first big break came when he was cast in the 2018 biographical drama Mapplethorpe, which earned critical acclaim at the Tribeca Film Festival, as the titular Robert Mapplethorpe’s brother, Edward. Sklenar also appeared alongside Amy Adams, Steve Carell, Christian Bale and Sam Rockwell in the Dick Cheney biopic Vice.

Though Sklenar has starred in several independent films, portraying Atlas in It Ends with Us will be one of his biggest mainstream roles to date. But the actor wasn’t aware of the book’s cult following when he got the part.

“When this project came along I wasn’t aware of this book or the tremendous impact it has had on women all over the world in helping them to have the strength to change their lives,” he wrote on Instagram after his casting was announced.

Sklenar continued: “It is our intention that this film continues to spread the vital message of this book; for women to feel empowered and men to be better. I’m honored to be a part of it.”

Jenny Slate as Allysa

In May 2021, Deadline reported that comedian Jenny Slate, 42, was joining the cast as Ryle's sister Allyssa Kincaid. Her character has a crucial role in the book, and Slate was spotted filming later that month.

Aside from her part in It Ends With Us, Slate has several film and television credits to her name. She voiced Marcel in the 2022 animated film Marcel the Shell, based on the hit YouTube series, and starred in the Oscar-winning movie Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. She also portrayed Mona-Lisa Saperstein on the hit NBC sitcom Parks & Recreation.

Slate married her husband Ben Shattuck on New Year's Eve in 2021. The couple also share a daughter, Ida Lupine Shattuck, who was born earlier that year.

Hasan Minhaj as Marshall

Hasan Minhaj, 37, joined the cast in May 2023 as Marshall, Allyssa's husband, according to Deadline.

Minhaj is an award-winning comedian and has appeared in several Netflix projects, including his comedy specials Homecoming King and The King’s Jester as well as Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj. He also plays Eric Nomani in AppleTV+'s series The Morning Show, which stars Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon.

The actor met his wife, Beena Patel, in college and the two welcomed their first child in 2018. Two years later, Minhaj became a father of two when his second child was born.