Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's legal battle remains ongoing, following the release of their 2024 box office hit, It Ends With Us.
Lively, 38, made a legal complaint against Baldoni, 42, in December 2024, accusing her director and co-star of sexual harassment on set, and for allegedly coordinating a smear campaign against her.
Baldoni has denied the allegations, taking legal action against Lively, but his $400 million countersuit has since been dismissed.
A trial for Lively v Wayfarer Studios has now been set for May 2026, with both Lively and Baldoni expected to take to the stand.
However, in one last opportunity to avoid a trial, both parties attempted to resolve the situation at a court-ordered settlement conference this week.
The unsuccessful settlement hearing, taking place in Manhattan, was overseen by Judge Sarah L Cave, reportedly involving six hours of negotiations between the two parties, with both Lively and Baldoni in attendance.
However, while Baldoni arrived at the New York City courthouse accompanied by his wife Emily, Lively attended solo, with her husband Ryan Reynolds being noticeably absent.
This has caused a major conversation online, with fans and followers surprised that the 49-year-old actor was not in attendance, particularly given his previous involvement, with Reynolds reported to have confronted Baldoni in the past.
"I do think it's really weird and shows a weakness that Ryan Reynolds was nowhere to be seen," journalist Kjersti Flaa noted on her podcast.
"He has come out publicly saying how important it is to support his wife, that he wasn't angry enough in all those text messages that he sent to Sony and WME, pushing people to support Blake. And now when it really matters, he's not there."
However, according to one lawyer, Reynolds' involvement is likely the reason for his absence, speculating that Lively's legal team may have encouraged him not to attend.
"Ryan Reynolds was not with Blake Lively at the settlement yesterday because he listened to her lawyers who told him to stay ... away," Ivy League lawyer Theresa Concepcion reported in a TikTok video to her 21.5k followers.
Concepcion went on to allege that Reynolds had damaged Lively's case against Baldoni, reporting: "there were so many things that Ryan Reynolds did to Justin Baldoni himself that justify Justin reaching out to his PR team, that there's no legal way a jury is going to be able to find retaliation."
She continued: "Since he ruined her case and since the public has had this huge backlash, Blake's lawyers know that it's really unlikely that Ryan Reynolds' presence would help in the court of public opinion.
"If Ryan had shown up yesterday, the image might have been 'Ryan is showing up to defend his wife' and 'he should have been angrier.' And 'is he going to be bullying Justin Baldoni during the settlement negotiations?' So if I was Blake's lawyers, I would have said Ryan needs to [stay at] home. And he did."
It has also been speculated that Reynolds may have chosen not to attend the settlement hearing in order to avoid becoming a distraction, and to keep the focus on the case. This was reportedly the reason for Reynolds' absence from Lively's deposition last year, with Yahoo reporting that Lively was advised to face the proceeding alone.
The trial for Lively v Wayfarer Studios is officially set for May 2026.
We will continue to update this report.
