Since the It Ends With Us film was announced, readers and BookTok followers have been desperate to who’s in the It Ends With Us cast and which actors will play Lily, Ryle, Atlas and more characters in Colleen Hoover‘s book adaptation.
It Ends With Us, which was published in August 2016, is an adult fiction novel by Colleen Hoover, who has also written best-selling titles like Verity, Ugly Love, All Your Perfects and Reminders of Him. The book follows Lily Bloom, a college graduate who moves to Boston, where she meets handsome neurosurgeon, Ryle Kincaid, and reconnects with her old boyfriend and first love, Atlas Corrigan. “Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his ‘no dating’ rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place. As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan — her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened,” the book’s description reads.
In an interview with Publishers Weekly in 2017, Hoover explained that It Ends With Us was based on the relationship between her mother and father. “I was inspired by my mother to write it,” Hoover says. “The book was based on her relationship with my father; she divorced him when I was about two years old. The author’s note at the end explains how the story related to my parents. I fashioned the main characters, Lily and Ryle, after them, and the first time he hits her is actually what happened between my parents.”
Hoover continued, “She called after she finished it. She was crying and couldn’t even talk. So she texted me and said that for 35 years she wondered if she had made the right choice by leaving him. And this book solidified that [decision]. I hope readers take away that people deserve respect in relationships,. Not just women, but everyone.”
Hoover also opened up about the public response to It Ends With Us. “I was very nervous because it was a departure from what I usually write,” she said. “But I had the biggest response that I’ve ever had to any book. It’s changed lives. Women have given this to friends who needed it. I’ve always said I write to entertain, I don’t write to educate or inform. But it’s something else when you write a book, and it actually does have an impact on people in a positive way.”
Since it was published in 2016, It Ends With Us has sold more than one million copies across the world and been translated into more than 20 languages. It debuted at number one on The New York Times best sellers list in January 2022 and was number one on Publishers Weekly’s adult list and number one on its overall list for the first six months of 2022. Hoover credits the recent success of the novel to the #BookTok community on TikTok. A sequel titled It Starts With Us was published in October 2022.
In 2019, Hoover announced that a movie adaptation of It Ends With Us was in the works. So…who’s in the It Ends With Us cast? Read on for the It Ends With Us cast so far and the actors playing Lily, Ryle, Atlas and more characters.
Image: Courtesy of Atria.
Who’s in the It Ends With Us cast? Read on for the confirmed actors in the It Ends With Us cast so far.
Who plays Lily Bloom in It Ends With Us?
Image: Taylor Hill/Getty Images.
Who plays Lily Bloom in It Ends With Us? Colleen Hoover, who wrote It Ends With Us, announced in an Instagram video in January 2023 that Blake Lively would play Lily in the It Ends With Us movie. Lively is also an executive producer of the film. “We have a cast and I’m going to tell you who our Ryle and Lily are,” Hoover said in the video. “Our Lily is going to be played by Blake Lively. Blake Lively, y’all! She’s my dream Lily.” She added, “Blake Lively! Blake Lively! I can’t say it enough.” She captioned the video, “CAST ANNOUNCEMENT for #ItEndsWithUsMovie! ❤️ So grateful to all of you for the support. AND TO YOU, MOM 😍.” After the announcement, Lively posted a photo of her with red hair on her Instagram Story. (In the It Ends With Us book, Lily is described as a redhead.)
Lily, the protagonist of It Ends With Us, is a young college graduate who moves to Boston, Massachusetts, where she opens her own floral business and meets Ryle Kincaid, a neurosurgeon who she starts a serious relationship with. While on a date with Ryle, Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, her first love and teenage boyfriend who Ryle suspects she still has feelings for.
There was a little controversy regarding Lively’s casting, as the actor is more than a decade older than the character she’s portraying—the 23-year-old Lily. Five months after the news of Lively’s casting, Hoover defended the move but admitted the casting was actually rectifying a mistake made by the author herself. “Back when I wrote It Ends With Us, the new adult [genre] was very popular,” she said at Book Bonanza, Hoover’s annual book festival held in Grapevine, Texas, according to Today. “You were writing college-age characters. That’s what I was contracted to do.” The author continued, “I didn’t know that neurosurgeons went to school for 50 years. There’s not a 20-something neurosurgeon,” admitting that it was the author’s fault. “As I started making this movie, I’m like, ‘We need to age them out because I messed up,’” she said. “So that’s my fault.”
However, Hoover said she was thrilled with how the on-screen adaptation is coming together. “I got to see the footage they filmed thus far,” she said, per Today. “I’m not a crier. I know that I write emotional books but I’m not an emotional person. And I cried so much on set.” Hoover continued, “You guys are going to be so happy. I’m extremely happy and now my expectations are up and I’m going to keep them there.”
Isabela Ferrer was announced as young Lily on January 16, 2024, according to Deadline.
Who plays Ryle Kincaid in It Ends With Us?
Image: Kevin Winter/Getty Images.
Who plays Ryle Kincaid in It Ends With Us? Colleen Hoover announced in an Instagram video in January 2023 that Justin Baldoni will play Ryle in the It Ends With Us movie. Baldoni is also the director and an executive producer on the film. “When I first met Justin Baldoni, who is directing the film for It Ends With Us, I immediately wanted him to be Ryle,” Hoover said in the video. “I just had thought that he had what it takes to play that character, and the good news is he’s going to be Ryle. So we have our Ryle and our Lily. I think Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively have what it takes to bring these characters to life and I cannot wait for you guys to see that happen.”
She continued, “I’m going to do my best to sneak y’all as much footage as I can without getting kicked off the set. I’m so excited y’all. I can’t even wrap my mind around this. That I’m going to to get to go on set, that I got to read the amazing script, and I know y’all are going to be happy. Y’all are going to be happy.”
Ryle, a neurosurgeon, is one of Lily Bloom’s two love interests in It Ends With Us, along with Atlas Corrigan. He is also the older brother of Allysa Kincaid and the brother-in-law of Marshall.
Who plays Allysa in It Ends With Us?
Jenny Slate. Image: Robert Smith/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Jenny Slate joined the cast as Allysa as Ryle’s sister, per a Deadline report published on May 1, 2023. Slate most recently co-wrote, produced and voiced the title role for A24’s stop-motion hit Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, an expansion of a series of short films that were adored on YouTube. She also happened to create the character and show with her ex-husband, Dean Fleischer Camp.
On her advice for weathering Hollywood and a notoriously judgmental industry, she told The Guardian in February 2023: “I needed to learn how to stop participating in useless self-criticism,” she says. “If there are more people looking at you than you’re used to, that can be wonderful, but while the sun can warm you, it can also burn you.”
Who plays Atlas Corrigan in It Ends With Us?
Image: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Paramount+.
Who plays Atlas Corrigan in It Ends With Us? Deadline confirmed in April 2023 that Brandon Sklenar will play Atlas in The It Ends With Us movie. Sklenar is best known for playing Spencer Dutton in the Paramount Plus’ Yellowstone prequel, 1923. He’s also starred in shows like New Girl, Westworld and Walker: Independence, as well as movies like Midway, The Big Ugly and Karen.
Before Sklenar was confirmed, Shane West revealed in an Instagram comment in January 2023 that he would be open to playing Atlas. West is best known for playing Landon Carter in 2002’s A Walk to Remember. “Ryle will be played by Justin but who is casted as Atlas Corrigan?” a user commented on People‘s Instagram post about It Ends With Us in January 2023. “I’m hoping it’s @theshanewest,” another user responded, to which West commented back with a hand-raising “🙋♂️” emoji. “@theshanewest ARE YOU SERIOUS?!! Landon Carter 2.0 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍,” another user responded to West, referencing his character from A Walk to Remember.
Alex Neustaedter was announced to play young Atlas on January 16, 2024, according to Deadline.
Atlas is one of Lily Bloom’s two love interests in It Ends With Us, along with Ryle Kincaid, and her childhood boyfriend.
Who plays Marshall in It Ends With Us?
Who plays Marshall in It Ends With Us? Deadline confirmed in May 2023 that Hasan Minhaj will play Marshall in It Ends With Us. Formerly a seniorcorrespondent on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Minhaj thrived with his Netflix comedy specials Homecoming King and The King’s Jester as well as his Peabody Award-winning Show Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj.
The comedian is also in producing his own movie For The Culture which is rooted in his own Indian-American upbringing. He told The Hollywood Reporter, “I’ve always looked to people like Tina Fey, for the way she was able to create amazing worlds for young performers through projects like Mean Girls, and I want to have kids from my culture to have that level of snappy dialogue and great comedy scenes to perform.
Marshall is Allysa’s husband in the novel.
Image: Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images.
Who is the It Ends With Us director? The It Ends With Us director is Justin Baldoni. Baldoni, who also plays Ryle Kincaid in the It Ends With Us movie, announced he had optioned the rights to Colleen Hoover’s book in an Instagram post in 2019. “So excited to be working with the brilliant @colleenhoover to try bring #ItEndsWithUs to the big screen!!! I’m so passionate about this this book and so honored she chose me to help bring it to the world. Thank you to my wonderful book agent @jcastillobooks for connecting us!” he captioned an Instagram photo of him and Hoover with the novel. The movie is in development with Wayfarer Studios, which Baldoni founded, and Sony Pictures.
Alex Saks produces for Saks Picture Company, along with Jamey Heath, who produces for Wayfarer Studios. Blake Lively, Colleen Hoover, Justin Baldoni, Steve Sarowitz, and Andrew Calof executive produce the film for Wayfarer, which is also co-financing the movie. Along with It Ends With Us, Baldoni has directed movies like 2019’s Five Feet Apart starring Cole Sprouse and Hailey Lu Richardson; 2020’s Clouds starring Sabrina Carpenter; and episodes of The CW’s Jane the Virgin, on which he also starred as Rafael Solano.
Image: Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix.
Who is the It Ends With Us screenwriter? The It Ends With Us screenwriter is Christy Hall, Deadline confirmed in January 2022. Hall is also a producer on the film. Along with It Ends With Us, Hall has also written the Netflix series I Am Not Okay With This, as well as projects like Daddio and The Husband’s Secret.
It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover is available on Amazon
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