A civil jury trial looms for Alec Baldwin this October, and the 68-year-old actor says he’s ready to walk away from Hollywood entirely.
On April 17, 2026, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Maurice Leiter ruled that Baldwin must face trial over the fatal 2021 Rust shooting. The case, brought by gaffer Serge Svetnoy, is scheduled to begin Oct. 12, 2026. Svetnoy alleges he suffered emotional distress after the bullet that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins narrowly missed him. Leiter rejected defense arguments that Baldwin and Rust Movie Productions bore no responsibility for set safety, allowing claims of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and punitive damages to proceed. “A reasonable jury could find that Mr. Baldwin recklessly disregarded the probability that pointing a gun in the direction of someone, with the finger on the trigger, would cause emotional distress,” the judge wrote. Baldwin’s assault claim was dismissed — the judge found no evidence he intended to harm anyone — but the core negligence case moves forward.
Baldwin appeared on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast and spoke candidly about his desire to leave the entertainment industry behind. “I was home and I got used to it, and I don’t want to leave my house anymore. I don’t want to work anymore. I want to retire and stay home with my kids.”
The shooting that changed everything happened on October 21, 2021, at a ranch outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. Baldwin was rehearsing a scene when the gun discharged, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Assistant director Dave Halls had told Baldwin the gun was a “cold gun” — industry speak for unloaded and safe. But the movie’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, had loaded a live round into the revolver. Baldwin has maintained that he pulled back the hammer but never pulled the trigger, and the gun fired on its own. Baldwin described the tragedy as “unspeakably difficult to deal with.”
Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison in April 2024. She was released in May 2025.
Criminal charges were also filed against Baldwin for involuntary manslaughter. But in July 2024, a Santa Fe judge dismissed the case — not because of anything related to the shooting itself, but because the prosecution had concealed evidence from Baldwin’s legal team. Baldwin’s defense team discovered that live ammunition connected to the shooting had been turned over to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s office but buried in a separate case folder and never disclosed to the defense. The judge ruled that was a fatal flaw and dismissed the case.
Prosecutors tried to appeal the dismissal but eventually withdrew that appeal in December 2024, officially ending the criminal case against Baldwin.
Baldwin went on the offensive with his own lawsuit in January 2025, filing for malicious prosecution and civil rights violations. The suit named special prosecutor Kari Morrissey, Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, three investigators from the sheriff’s office, and the county board of commissioners.
The actor had to return to the Rust set to finish filming. As part of a settlement with Hutchins’ husband, Matthew Hutchins, the production gave him the movie. Baldwin described it bluntly: “We gave him the movie and said, You sell it and do whatever you want with it.”
Baldwin struggled to complete filming in Montana, describing repeated blackouts from orthostatic hypotension — a nerve condition caused by blood pressure medication — that left him bedridden for over a week. The completed movie debuted in select theaters in May 2025.
On the Dopey podcast late 2025, Baldwin reflected on the toll: “If I told you what my health conditions have been since Oct. 21 of 2021, it’s taken 10 years off of my life.” He said the ordeal “broke every nerve in my body, spiritually, financially, work-wise, career-wise.”
In February 2025, Baldwin and his wife Hilaria Baldwin premiered a TLC reality show called The Baldwins. Critics called it a distasteful image rehabilitation attempt. But Hilaria Baldwin revealed her husband had been diagnosed with PTSD, and Baldwin himself admitted on the show, “I’m happier when I’m asleep than when I’m awake.”
Baldwin has seven young children with Hilaria Baldwin, and a 30-year-old daughter, Ireland Baldwin, from his first marriage to actress Kim Basinger.
He has a few minor roles in development, including Kockroach, a crime thriller starring Chris Hemsworth, Zazie Beetz, and Channing Tatum. He also worked with director Rory Kennedy on The Trial of Alec Baldwin, a documentary about the legal fallout. That film premiered at DOC NYC in November 2025, but a wider release date hasn’t been set.
If Baldwin steps away for good, it would be the end of one of the more complicated careers in Hollywood history — spanning from Beetlejuice in 1988 to The Hunt for Red October to a seven-season Emmy-winning run on 30 Rock. The Alec Baldwin who existed before October 2021 is gone. What’s left is someone who sounds like he’s just tired.
