Hilary Duff became one of Hollywood’s most popular child stars when she landed the titular role in the Disney series Lizzie McGuire. It was such as an exciting time for the Mickey Mouse channel who also banked on the likes of Lindsay Lohan and Miley Cyrus around the same time. Unlike them, however, Duff maintained a wholesome image, which almost made fans feel like the Texas native was her character in real life.Career-wise, that move also helped propel Duff towards more commercial success. In the years that followed, the actress went on to star in hit films such as Agent Cody Banks, Cheaper by the Dozen, and A Cinderella Story where Chad Michael Murray played her love interest. Since then, Duff has moved on to more adult roles, although she was more than happy to sign up for a Lizzie McGuire reboot. Later on, however, it was announced that the project was scrapped, and Duff thinks she may have something to do with that.
Disney Had Been Asking Hilary Duff To Do A ‘Lizzie McGuire’ Reboot For ‘Years And Years’
Ever since Lizzie McGuire ended its run in 2004, Duff has moved on from being a Disney child star. Since then, the actress has played the recurring character Olivia Burke in Gossip Girl. Duff also went on to portray the late actress Sharon Tate in the horror thriller The Haunting of Sharon Tate. Clearly, she was done playing Lizzie McGuire, but Disney still kept calling, and they were rather relentless.
“They asked me for years and years: ‘Let’s do a reboot, let’s do a reboot,’” the actress recalled. “And I was like, ‘No, no, no.’” In 2019, however, Duff changed her mind. “Finally, last year, I was like, ‘I feel ready,’” she explained.
“It just doesn’t annoy me anymore when people refer to me as Lizzie McGuire or say that was my biggest role, because it paved the way for all the other roads I’ve been able to take.”
Once the reboot was greenlit, other original cast members signed up too. These include Robert Carradine, Hallie Todd, and Jake Thomas. At the same time, Adam Lamberg, who eventually became Lizzie’s love interest, also agreed to appear in a recurring capacity. Soon after production was underway, however, the first signs of trouble appeared.
Hilary Duff Thinks She ‘Spooked’ Disney Into Canceling The Reboot
Fans were shocked when Duff herself announced that the reboot wasn’t going forward in 2020. “I know the efforts and conversations have been everywhere trying to make a reboot work but, sadly & despite everyone’s best efforts, it isn’t going to happen,” the actress confirmed on Instagram.
Looking back now, it seems Duff knew exactly where things fell apart. The actress wanted to portray a mature version of the character, and it seems Disney wasn’t so thrilled about that. “She had to be 30 years old doing 30-year-old things,” Duff explained.
“She didn’t need to be doing bong rips and having one-night stands all the time, but it had to be authentic.” The actress added, “I think they got spooked.”
But Duff has been clear about the direction that she wanted Lizzie to take ever since Disney revealed its plans for a Lizzie McGuire reboot at Disney Plus’s D23 Expo in 2019.
“Lizzie has also grown up, she’s older, she’s wiser, she has a much bigger shoe budget,” Duff said onstage. “She has her dream job, the perfect life right now working as an apprentice to a fancy New York City decorator.”
The actress also teased that Lizzie now has “the perfect man, who owns a fancy restaurant. She’s getting ready to celebrate her 30th birthday.”
At first, it seemed that everything was going smoothly. But then, word got out that showrunner Terri Minsky, who also created the original series, was exiting the reboot after working on just two episodes.
“I am so proud of the two episodes we did,” she remarked upon her departure. “It’s important to me that this show was important to people. I felt like I wanted to do a show that was worthy of that kind of devotion.”
At that point, there was already speculation that the future of the reboot was in trouble. Reports even surfaced that Minsky and Duff had a different idea of how to proceed with the reboot compared to Disney. The network wanted it to be family-friendly, but Duff and Minsky wanted a more realistic portrayal of a woman in her 30s.
Minsky also expressed hopes for the show to be moved to Hulu where they would have more freedom to pursue more mature storylines and Duff agreed.
“I’d be doing a disservice to everyone by limiting the realities of a 30-year-old’s journey to live under the ceiling of a PG rating,” the actress wrote on Instagram.
“It's important to me that just as her experiences as a preteen/teenager navigating life were authentic, her next chapters are equally as real and relatable. It would be a dream if Disney would let us move the show to Hulu, if they were interested, and I could bring this beloved character to life again.” Amidst speculation, it was soon confirmed that the reboot would no longer move forward.
At the moment, it is unclear if Disney will ever revisit the idea of rebooting Lizzie McGuire again. The original Lizzie McGuire series and The Lizzie McGuire Movie are both available to stream on Disney+.
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