Inside Blake Lively’s Behind-the-Scenes Influence on The Housemaid — and Why Brandon Sklenar Backed Her Over Justin Baldoni

Blake Lively is having a moment on and off the set. Co-stars are speaking up for her, she is influencing casting on her next thriller, and her lawsuit against Justin Baldoni is very much alive. It is a lot. Here is how it all fits together.

A co-star quietly picked a side

Last December, Michele Morrone, who stars with Lively in The Housemaid, took to Instagram Stories to back her amid her sexual harassment and retaliation claims against her It Ends with Us director and co-star Justin Baldoni. Morrone said he had talked with Lively while they were shooting A Simple Favor 2 and felt something was off.

It is usually not my thing to make those kind of videos, but I think it is time to stand up for a person that I really love and this person is Blake Lively. I felt something was wrong, and I felt the pain.

He linked to The New York Times breakdown of Lively's complaint and added that he was tired of people firing off cruel comments without knowing the situation. He closed with a message straight to her: 'Blake, I love you so much. Keep it up, and we are going to see each other very, very soon.'

Behind the scenes, Lively is shaping The Housemaid

On Paul Feig's upcoming thriller The Housemaid, Lively did more than lead the cast. When Feig was figuring out who to hire, she apparently would not stop pitching her It Ends with Us co-star Brandon Sklenar. Feig told E! News that she kept championing him, and when he finally met Sklenar, he agreed: 'Yes, you are great and I love you.'

The Housemaid hits theaters December 19, 2025, with a cast that includes Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried alongside Lively. Sklenar plays Andrew Winchester, the seemingly perfect husband to Seyfried's Nina. If you like a little industry scuttlebutt, this is a textbook case of a star using her pull to get the actor she believes in the job.

Brandon Sklenar plays it careful, but clear

Asked at the Vanity Fair Oscars afterparty if he is Team Blake or Team Justin, Sklenar did not pick a side by name, but he did not punt either. He framed his answer around the point of the movie they made together.

It is a tough situation. I just hope everyone remembers what the movie is about and why we made it in the first place. It is about love. It is about supporting women in general and helping people through tough times.

On Instagram, he also shared the New York Times article about Lively's complaint with a red heart and tagged her, adding: 'For the love of god read this.'

Where the case stands

• In a Dec. 4 filing obtained by USA TODAY, Lively's lawyers pushed back on Justin Baldoni's request for a court judgment without a jury, saying she deserves her 'day in court.'
• Her filing says Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios' CEO controlled nearly every part of her work life on set - from scheduling to day-to-day management - leaving her little room to push back.
• The allegations include sexual misconduct and a smear campaign. Baldoni denies all of it.
• Per Page Six, court documents also include some tense private exchanges, including Baldoni's comments about circumcision and a claim that Lively was playing the victim using 'the Taylor Swift playbook.' Yes, that is actually in the filings.
• A judge dismissed Baldoni's extortion counterclaim in June 2025. The case is currently on track for a March 9, 2026 trial.
• Meanwhile, The Housemaid is set to premiere in theaters on December 19, 2025.

The takeaway

Between public support from co-stars, a nudge that helped land Brandon Sklenar his next role, and a lawsuit that is not going away, Lively's footprint right now is impossible to miss. However the legal fight plays out, she is clearly steering both the narrative and the work.