What to know about the Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni saga after 'SNL ...

The Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni saga got a noticeable nod during the "Saturday Night Live" 50th anniversary special Sunday night, but for those who weren't up to speed on what's happening, you might have missed it.

The moment came as former cast member Amy Poehler and former lead writer Tina Fey, who partnered as “Weekend Update” anchors, led a Q-and-A with audience questions.

Ryan Reynolds stood, and they asked him how it's going.

“Great, why?” he said defensively. “What have you heard?”

Reynolds and wife Lively, sitting next to him, have been locked in a heated legal and media battle with her “It Ends With Us” director and co-star Baldoni.

If you haven't been keeping up, here's a look at what has happened so far and how it all began:

What is 'It Ends With Us'?

“It Ends With Us,” an adaptation of Colleen Hoover's bestselling 2016 novel, was released in August, exceeding box office expectations with a $50 million debut. But the movie's release was shrouded by speculation over discord between the lead pair.

How it started

Rumors of a rift between Lively and Baldoni had been spreading even as the highly anticipated film premiered in August.

The rumors sparked during promotion for the film, which centers on a theme of domestic violence.

Lively was also a producer of the film, while Baldoni, in addition to playing a leading role, served as the director and an executive producer.

During the lead-up to the premiere, Lively rarely spoke of her co-star during press interviews and Baldoni was noticeably absent from certain appearances with other stars, which had some fans questioning.

Baldoni took a backseat in promoting the film while Lively took centerstage along with Reynolds, who was on the press circuit for “Deadpool & Wolverine” at the same time.

But Lively also received backlash from some on social media for her approach at promoting the film, which some said belittled the troubling theme behind the film.

Lively addressed some of that criticism in an interview shortly after the film premiered.

"This movie covers domestic violence," she told BBC News at the Aug. 8 London premiere, "but what's important about this film is that she is not just a survivor and she's not just a victim, and while those are huge things to be, they're not her identity."

The legal battle

Things shifted dramatically when Lively filed a legal complaint against Baldoni in December, accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of the movie and a subsequent effort to “destroy” her reputation.

The complaint, which precedes a lawsuit, names Baldoni, the studio behind “It Ends With Us” and Baldoni's publicists among the defendants.

In the complaint, Lively accuses Baldoni and the studio of embarking on a “multi-tiered plan” to damage her reputation following a meeting in which she and her husband Ryan Reynolds addressed “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior” by Baldoni and a producer on the movie.

The plan, the complaint said, included a proposal to plant theories on online message boards, engineer a social media campaign and place news stories critical of Lively. The complaint also says Baldoni “abruptly pivoted away from” the movie's marketing plan and “used domestic violence ‘survivor content’ to protect his public image.”

“These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media,” attorney Bryan Freedman said in a statement. Freedman represents Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives.

Freedman pushed back against Lively's allegations of a coordinated campaign, saying the studio “proactively” hired a crisis manager “due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production." He said Lively threatened to not appear on set and not promote the film “if her demands were not met.” Those demands were not specified in the statement.

“I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted,” Lively said in a statement at the time.

In her legal filing, Lively alleged Baldoni added "improvised gratuitous sexual content and/or scenes involving nudity" into "It Ends With Us" and entered her makeup trailer while she was undressed or breastfeeding her baby. She accused him of asking about her sex life with Reynolds, talking about "his experiences with pornography" and "weight-shaming her." She also said he told her multiple times that he could "speak to the dead" and had spoken to her dead father.

Lively noted in her complaint that she reported the alleged behavior to Baldoni's production company, Wayfarer Studios.

Following the complaint, Baldoni was reportedly dropped as a client by talent agency WME.

In January, Baldoni sued Lively and her husband for defamation in January in the latest step in a bitter legal battle surrounding the dark romantic drama.

Baldoni’s suit seeks at least $400 million for damages, including lost future income. The Lively lawsuit came the same day that Baldoni sued The New York Times for libel, alleging the paper worked with Lively to smear him.

The lawsuit said the plaintiffs did not want to file the suit, but that Lively “has unequivocally left them with no choice, not only to set the record straight in response to Lively’s accusations, but also to put the spotlight on the parts of Hollywood that they have dedicated their careers to being the antithesis of.”

Lively slammed Baldoni's countersuit, with her legal team accusing him of "trying to shift the narrative."

“This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim," Lively's lawyers said in a Jan. 16 statement. "This is what experts call DARVO. Deny. Attack. Reverse Victim Offender."

Video release

Video footage provided to E! News by Baldoni's legal counsel Bryan Freedman showed the costars interacting while filming a slow dance for a soundless montage in the movie.

In the footage, Lively and Baldoni are seen talking, apparently out of character, while filming the scene.

"I think it's more romantic if we're dancing and talking," Lively told Baldoni in the video, "'cause it's like the moment you kiss, then you give them the thing that they wanna see."

Lively noted that she and Reynolds "don’t shut up" whenever they’re together and often marvel over how "there's not enough time in the day to talk."

"I think that's cute," Baldoni said. "You guys are really cute."

At one point, while filming a particularly intimate moment in the dance, Baldoni got close to Lively's neck.

"I’m probably getting spray tan on you," she said.

"It smells good," Baldoni replied while laughing.

A legal team representing the actress said the 10-minute footage "corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described" in her lawsuit.

"Justin Baldoni and his lawyer may hope that this latest stunt will get ahead of the damaging evidence against him, but the video itself is damning," her attorneys told E! News in a Jan. 21 statement. "The video shows Mr. Baldoni repeatedly leaning in toward Ms. Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck, flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking with her out of character."

The attorneys alleged the moments seen in the footage were "improvised by Mr. Baldoni with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present."

What co-stars said

Brandon Sklenar, who starred as Atlas Corrigan in the film alongside Lively and Baldoni, posted to his Instagram Story on Dec. 23, sharing a link to a New York Times article that includes the entirety of Lively's legal complaint alongside a message, saying, "For the love of god read this." The story also tagged Lively's social media handle with a heart emoji next to it.

Jenny Slate, who played the best friend of Lively's character in the film, also issued a statement exclusively to TODAY.com shortly after, saying she stands by her “loyal friend” and “trusted source of emotional support.”

“As Blake Lively’s castmate and friend, I voice my support as she takes action against those reported to have planned and carried out an attack on her reputation,” Slate said. “Blake is a leader, loyal friend and a trusted source of emotional support for me and so many who know and love her.”

She continued: “What has been revealed about the attack on Blake is terribly dark, disturbing, and wholly threatening. I commend my friend, I admire her bravery, and I stand by her side.”

Baldoni's wife shared a message of support to him in January amid the slew of legal challenges. On Jan. 24, she took to Instagram to pay tribute to him on his 41st birthday, writing, "Happy birthday my love. Celebrating the man, husband, and father that you are. I’d choose you again and again."

A possible trial

A New York judge set a March 2026 trial date as the public feud continued to grow and accelerate.

The New York federal judge, Lewis J. Liman, told both sides in an order late Monday to prepare for a March 9, 2026, trial.

Liman warned lawyers to obey court rules about public statements meant to ensure a fair trial.

Liman took action after Lively’s lawyers claimed in a filing that an attorney for Baldoni was trying to taint potential jurors. The lawyers said Baldoni’s attorney was trying to wreck Lively’s career and turn potential New York jurors against her by creating a website to release selected documents and communications between Lively and Baldoni.

The lawyers said Freedman, representing Baldoni, was “engaging in this extrajudicial campaign to influence these proceedings and the public perception of legal filings to this Court, and there already is a serious risk that his misconduct is tainting the jury pool.”

They added: “The endless stream of defamatory and extrajudicial media statements must end.”

Freedman said in a statement in response that the “irony is not lost on anyone that Ms. Lively is so petrified of the truth that she has moved to gag it.”

“We will always respect the court; however, we will never be bullied by those suggesting we cannot defend our clients with pure, unedited facts,” the lawyer said. “All we want is for people to see the actual text messages that directly contradict her allegations, video footage that clearly shows there was no sexual harassment and all the other powerful evidence that directly contradicts any false allegations.”

In the separate filing in Hays County, Texas, a precursor to another potential lawsuit, Lively asked for an order for a deposition from Jed Wallace, a crisis management specialist she alleges was behind much of the social media manipulation surrounding the film that turned public sentiment against her through posts on Reddit and TikTok.

Wallace and his Texas-based firm Street Relations were brought on as subcontractors by publicists working with Baldoni and his production company, the filing said.

“He weaponized a digital army around the country, including in New York and Los Angeles, to create, seed, manipulate, and advance disparaging content that appeared to be authentic on social media platforms and internet chat forums,” the filing alleges.

Wallace is identified in Lively's federal lawsuit, but he is not a defendant. He has in turn sued Lively for defamation.

What to know about Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni

Lively came to fame through the 2005 film “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” and bolstered her stardom on the TV series “Gossip Girl” from 2007 to 2012. She has since starred in films including “The Town” and “The Shallows.”

Baldoni starred in the TV comedy “Jane the Virgin,” directed the 2019 film “Five Feet Apart” and wrote “Man Enough,” a book pushing back against traditional notions of masculinity.