Blake Lively’s upcoming A Simple Favor 2 hasn’t been canceled amid her ongoing legal battle, according to the film’s director.
Paul Feig dismissed online rumors on January 10 regarding the film studio Amazon’s decision to put the project on hold indefinitely due to Lively’s legal action against her It Ends With Us co-star, Justin Baldoni.
Feig, aged 62, refuted the claims on social media, stating that the movie is completed and will be released soon. He advised not believing everything seen on social platforms these days.
In a follow-up post, Feig praised Lively and costar Anna Kendrick for their work on the project.
Feig expressed excitement about the film, praising the performances of Blake and Anna as outstanding. He encouraged fans to anticipate more updates and revealed that Simple Favor 2 is in the works and will be coming out soon.
Feig directed Lively, 37, and Kendrick, 39, in 2018’s A Simple Favor about a single mommy vlogger named Stephanie who investigates the mysterious disappearance of her friend Emily. Kendrick portrays Stephanie opposite Lively’s Emily.
Nearly six years later in 2024, Lively and Kendrick reunited to film the upcoming sequel. That same year, Lively also worked with Baldoni, 40, on the adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us. (Baldoni also served as the film’s director, while Lively was an executive producer.)
Lively sued Baldoni in December 2024 for alleged sexual harassment, claiming the Jane the Virgin alum fostered a “hostile work environment” on the set of the summer blockbuster. She also claimed that Baldoni attempted to launch an alleged “social manipulation” campaign to destroy her career and reputation. Baldoni has vehemently denied the accusations and subsequently filed a $250 million lawsuit against the New York Times for their report outlining Lively’s claims.
“In this vicious smear campaign fully orchestrated by Blake Lively and her team, the New York Times cowered to the wants and whims of two powerful ‘untouchable’ Hollywood elites, disregarding journalistic practices and ethics once befitting of the revered publication by using doctored and manipulated texts and intentionally omitting texts which dispute their chosen PR narrative,” Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman said in a statement last month. “In doing so, they pre-determined the outcome of their story and aided and abetted their own devastating PR smear campaign designed to revitalize Lively’s self-induced floundering public image and counter the organic groundswell of criticism amongst the online public. The irony is rich.”
Lively, meanwhile, denied the accusations in a statement of her own.
“This lawsuit is based on the obviously false premise that Ms. Lively’s administrative complaint against Wayfarer and others was a ruse based on a choice not to file a lawsuit against Baldoni, Wayfarer, and that litigation was never her ultimate goal,” the actress told Us Weekly in a statement.
