Blake Lively has landed her first lead role since her bitter legal feud with actor-director Justin Baldoni overshadowed their 2024 film, It Ends With Us.
On Thursday, Lionsgate confirmed it had acquired the script for The Survival List, described as “action romantic comedy,” which Lively will produce and star in.
“Against her wishes, highbrow reality TV producer Annie is assigned to a new show hosted by famous survival expert Chopper Lane,” the studio’s official description reads. “However, when a shipwreck strands them on a deserted island, Annie discovers Chopper is a fraud and knows nothing about survival, leaving her in charge of figuring out how to keep them alive. Forced to work together, they begin to discover an unlikely chemistry.”
The role of Chopper Lane has yet to be cast.
She’s set to team up with Wicked and La La Land producer Marc Platt for the new project, multiple trade publications report.
The news comes as Lively is involved in several legal actions with her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni.
The film, based on Colleen Hoover’s best-selling novel, follows Lily Bloom (Lively) and her relationship with a man (Baldoni) whose darker side mirrors her father’s violence.
However, in late 2024, Blake Lively filed a complaint accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment, alleging he made unwanted advances and then retaliated with a smear campaign when she raised concerns.
Baldoni responded with a series of sweeping defamation lawsuits against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and even The New York Times, claiming they were attempting to destroy his reputation. Earlier this year, a federal judge dismissed those countersuits, finding his claims legally insufficient, but Lively’s harassment case is still pending and set for trial in March 2026.
Earlier this week, another It Ends With Us actor, Isabela Ferrer, accused Baldoni of harassing her with subpoenas demanding that she turn over materials related to his legal battle with Lively.
Ferrer, 24, who starred as the younger version of Lively’s Lily Bloom in the 2024 romance drama, was first subpoenaed by Lively to address allegations raised in Baldoni’s original complaint.
Baldoni followed suit, also subpoenaing Ferrer for information. However, after failing to reach her, Baldoni filed a motion for leave to serve, claiming she’s been unreachable and unresponsive.
Ferrer has since filed a rebuttal to his motion, accusing Baldoni of trying to “manipulate, threaten, control, and otherwise act inappropriately” toward her with his subpoenas.
Baldoni’s lawyer did not respond to The Independent’s request for comment.
