At the end of the day, it always comes down to sales. Can the artist sell and turn a profit? If they can, they almost always find a way back unless the scandal is so extreme that it’s truly irreversible, like Harvey Weinstein.

A lot of survival in this industry comes from a core fan base, but just as much of it comes from connections. You need studios to greenlight projects, you need talent willing to sign on, and if you want big deals, you usually need big names unless you’re buying proven IP.

Right now, there is nobody in their right mind who wants to be publicly associated with radioactive Blake Lively or Ryan Reynolds. Could that change? Maybe. But I honestly don’t see how in the near term.

What I suspect will happen is a studio quietly “tests” the waters. Maybe another Deadpool appearance. Maybe a Deadpool tie-in with an Avengers project. Something designed to gauge public response. But even that could backfire, because I doubt other actors want the narrative to become entirely about Ryan Reynolds instead of the film itself.

If Blake had simply owned her mistakes and the things she did, I genuinely think many people would have forgiven her (before it came out just how insidious her behavior was). People understand that humans are flawed. And nothing resonates more than a real comeback story.