Why Are People Calling Ryan Reynolds a "Scab"? It's Because of Something Blake Lively Said

When the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike in summer 2023, it put a long pause on film and television productions. Writers couldn't write, revise, or basically do anything at that point until an agreement was reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

The strike lasted from May 2 to Sept. 27, when the writers and studios made a tentative deal that eventually got ratified the following month.

So why are we bringing this up today? Well, it has to do with Ryan Reynolds, and whether his wife Blake Lively may have outed him as a "scab" (aka strikebreaker) when she said he wrote a scene in her film It Ends With Us.

Here's what to know.

At the New York City premiere of It Ends With Us on Aug. 6, Blake told E! News that Ryan had actually written a key part in the film.

"The iconic rooftop scene, my husband actually wrote it. Nobody knows that but you now," she told the reporter on the red carpet.

It Ends With us began production three days after the strike began in May 2023, and was temporarily shut down on June 5.

After Blake made the comments about her husband writing the film's rooftop scene, people began wondering if Ryan — who is a member of the WGA, with screenwriting credits for Deadpool 2 and Deadpool and Wolverine — had written this scene during the strike.

But Variety reported via a "source close to [Ryan]" that he'd actually worked on the scene in April 2023, which would put him in the clear.

The outlet pointed out another issue, though, which is that if Ryan worked on the scene without being given a screenwriting credit, it could potentially be seen as a WGA violation in itself. Variety reported that, according to sources, the film's director Justin Baldoni didn't know about Ryan's contributions, and thought Blake had just ad-libbed the scene.

After Variety's report was published, Entertainment Tonight tweeted out later that same day, "ET can confirm that Ryan Reynolds writing a scene for It Ends With Us that made it into the final cut of the film did indeed come as news to Justin Baldoni, who found out only after Blake Lively revealed it in a red carpet interview."

Is this just another chapter in the alleged drama behind the scenes of It Ends With Us? From the reported feud between Blake and Justin, to the accusations that Blake wasn't using her interviews to properly address the domestic violence themes in the film, It Ends With Us's rollout has had a lot of wild buzz surrounding it, to say the least.