A year after Lively and Baldoni stopped appearing together, Colleen Hoover has said her piece on a sequel
Hoover does not hold the film rights to It Starts With Us. She spoke while promoting a different adaptation of her own work.
Nothing ever seems to go quietly in Hollywood, does it? If you thought the fuss over It Ends With Us might settle down after the blockbuster release, think again. Now, attention’s shifting to whether Colleen Hoover’s follow-up novel It Starts With Us could also get the big-screen treatment. And as it turns out, Hoover herself has finally chimed in. But don’t expect any neat answers—this saga comes with its fair share of behind-the-scenes drama, including that headline-grabbing rift between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni that had everyone talking last year.
Colleen Hoover Speaks (Sort Of)
So, what’s going on with a sequel? Hoover’s comments came while she was out promoting a completely different film adaptation—her psychological thriller, Verity. Asked straight-up about It Starts With Us getting the movie treatment, she was clear, if a bit exasperated, that the decision’s out of her hands. Here’s how she put it for Variety:
“I mean, I don’t own the rights to the film sequel. So, if they decide to make another one, I’m all for it! I personally don’t see that happening. I’m also curious what it’s like to have so much drama attached to one of your works? You entrusted your work to someone, and it’s turned into, I don’t even know what at this point.”
She also wanted to set the record straight about her feelings on the film. Regardless of the ructions, she’s still proud of how the adaptation turned out and hasn’t wavered on that point. In Hoover’s own words:
“I feel for everyone, you know? As the author, I was, and am, so proud of that movie. I think they did a great job. I think Blake [Lively] was great in it, Justin [Baldoni] was great in it, Brandon [Sklenar] was great in it, and I saw the completed film before any of that happened, or I knew it was happening, so I was proud of the film! And I still am. It was a huge hit.”
So What Was the Drama?
If you’ve heard whispers about friction between Justin Baldoni (director and also the actor behind Ryle Kincaid) and Blake Lively (who played Lily Bloom), they’re not completely without substance. The trouble popped up during the August 2024 promo push, when the two managed to studiously avoid being seen together at the New York premiere. The rumour mill churned especially hard after some of the cast—let’s just say more than one—stopped following Baldoni on socials. Always a classic tell in our times.
Sources later claimed the disagreements were mostly about creative choices (yes, the usual suspects—editing, marketing, you name it). Bare in mind, the book deals with domestic violence in quite a direct way, but the film’s trailers and marketing apparently took a more hearts-and-flowers romantic angle, which didn't exactly thrill everyone involved. Baldoni’s production house, Wayfarer Studios, had owned the rights since 2019, and for added spice, Baldoni himself suggested publicly that Lively would make a better director if a sequel ever happened. Subtle.
- It Ends With Us was a gigantic hit, hauling in over $350 million worldwide
- Major cast: Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, Brandon Sklenar
- The director and stars reportedly clashed over how the story should be edited and sold to audiences
- The original film’s marketing leaned a bit more on romance than some had hoped for such a heavy narrative