Lizzie McGuire Revival Not Moving Forward; Hilary Duff Mourns the ‘Amazing’ Woman Fans Won’t See
Hilary Duff is saying goodbye to Lizzie McGuire — again. The actress confirmed on Wednesday that the revival of her iconic Disney Channel sitcom will not be moving forward.
“I’ve been so honored to have the character of Lizzie in my life,” Duff wrote in an emotional Instagram post. “She has made such a lasting impact on many, including myself. To see the fans’ loyalty and love for her, to this day, means so much to me. I know the efforts and conversations have been everything trying to make a reboot work, but sadly [and] despite everyone’s best efforts, it isn’t going to happen. I want any reboot of Lizzie to be honest and authentic to who Lizzie would be today. It’s what the character deserves. We can all take a moment to mourn the amazing woman she would have been and the adventures we would have taken with her. I’m very sad, but I promise everyone tried their best and the stars just didn’t align. Hey now, this is what 2020’s made of.”
Lizzie McGuire, with its original creator and most of its original cast returning, was announced as an upcoming Disney+ series in Aug. 2019. As production got underway, creator Terri Minsky departed over creative differences, with production ultimately shutting down for good. Duff essentially pleaded with Disney to move the series to Hulu in order to accurately reflect Lizzie’s life as an adult, but the request fell on deaf (mouse) ears.
Along with Duff returning in the title role, it had also been confirmed (with photographic evidence) that fans would be reunited with Adam Lamberg as Gordo, Hallie Todd as Lizzie’s mom Jo, Robert Carradine as Lizzie’s dad Sam and Jake Thomas as Lizzie’s brother Matt.
Per the official synopsis, the reboot would have picked up “as Lizzie McGuire is just about to turn 30. She seemingly has it all – her dream job as an assistant to a fancy New York City decorator, her dream guy and a picturesque Brooklyn apartment – but things aren’t always as they seem. With a little help from her friends, her loving family and her 13 year-old alter-ego in animated form, Lizzie navigates the ups and downs of adulthood.”
Of course, Duff will remain on our TV screens for some time, with the seventh — and potentially final — season of Younger premiering on TV Land sometime in 2021. It’s also been reported that Darren Star is developing a Younger spinoff focused on Duff’s character.
Are you disappointed that we won’t get to meet grown-up Lizzie? Drop a comment with your thoughts below.
Ah, this is what happens when executives meddle in projects. Disney wanted the tone to be like Raven’s Home and Terri and Hilary wanted the tone to be more like her other show Younger. It’s a shame since this sounded like it would’ve been amazing, but alas thanks to executive meddling, we will never see it.
Raven’s home is a disgrace for the original fans if That’s So Raven.
I wish we got a more adult show for both Raven and Lizzie. Disney’s executives suck.
I think the article should have included that Hilary Duff is currently pregnant (congrats!!!), so obviously they have to halt development at the moment and probably part of the decision to “hold off”. Should Disney kept the stars on contract? Probably, but it would have been costly most likely, (I’m not an agent so I don’t know what the actual logistics are of being on contract). Also not sure if we can blame the clashing in creative tone as an issue, how many violent Marvel shows and movies are currently on Disney+ again? I predict both sides will eventually resolve this and we’ll eventually see Lizzie again whether it’s on Disney+ or Hulu.
No, they had hit pause before the pandemic even shut anything down. I think only two episodes got made before Disney ruled it was “too adult” for Disney+
i’m not sure what you’re getting at…that HIlary and Teri have some hidden agenda? I mean Teri literally quit b/c she wasn’t allowed to make the show she created in her vision. disney allows violent marvel content b/c it makes money. they just didn’t want to invest in Hilary, at the end of day
This truly sucks. The audience would have been here.
I was disappointed with Girl Meets World for similar reasons (it should’ve been Man Meets World and aired on Freeform). I don’t trust Disney revivals anymore.
I agree with this – it should have been an adult sequel series about the original characters. Disney needs to figure out that there’s a middle ground between G and R that they can do a lot in. Disney+ has the ability to be awesome, but not if it’s just Disney Channel.
This.
Unfortuantely I was kind of expecting this after Terri’s departure
What about the episodes that were already filmed?
Total BS!!! Lizzie McGuire DESSIRVES an proper revival. Nobody wants another Raven’s Home or Fuller House!!!
It baffles me why Disney isn’t listening. NO ONE wants a raven’s home version of adult Lizzie. We wanna see Lizzie have real problems. Not chasing kids around. They should just move it to hulu. What a waste of time and money. At least give us the two episodes that were filmed!
Disney owns Hulu so they would still get to meddle. I’ve never seen the new Raven or Girl Meets World. I heard GMW was awful.
GMW was fine. It wasn’t the show we wanted though and it wasn’t for us. Any ties to the original property were essentially erased (except for casting) and the show was for kids (for which it was fine). But Disney doesn’t understand nostalgia despite it being a foundation of their entire brand
This would be a perfect tester to show Disney that the show would in fact be welcomed by old fans and introduce it to new fans as well.
2 episodes can be a teaser for something great to come back.
Ugh this is a bad move. So many people would have loved to watch Hilary’s adult version of Lizzie come to life. This SUCKS
Ugh. I was worried this would happen, but this honestly sucks. I grew up watching Lizzie with my dad and sister, and was looking forward to catching up with her, Gordo, Matt, and all my other faves as grown-ups. All they had to do was move it to Hulu. Especially now that Disney Plus is integrating Star to give international markets access to Hulu’s more more mature content, it would have been an easy fix. Super bad move on their part.
Aw, Hillary Duff doesn’t get that Disney is mostly now Disney+, and many subscribers are adults. No more Younger, and now this. Wish she’d rethink her decision.
Eh? Did you read the article at all? She wants an adult series!!!
It’s not about Duff getting it, it’s about Disney+ wanting a more kid-friendly image for Lizzie McGuire – more Raven’s Home than anything else. Meanwhile, Disney+ is happy enough to shunt Love, Victor off to Hulu, but god forbid they give the Lizzie revival a chance by allowing it to move there as well.
This totally sucks but I’m not surprised. :(
Heartbroken :(
This is such an unbelievable bummer. Everything she has talked about with her vision for the show felt exciting and refreshing for what would’ve been a Disney reboot. Disney! Not everything needs to be for little kids a ‘la Raven’s Home—which I’m not knocking but Lizzie lends itself to a more realistic tone.
The reboot was ordered for the new Disney+ service, not Hulu. They should have known the boundaries on the onset. With that said, it may have been good synergy with Hulu. Perhaps they should air the two episodes filmed on Hulu just to see if there is any interest. Fans of the OG may or may not like grown up Lizzie.
Love, Victor was also ordered for the new Disney+ service, but it got moved to Hulu eventually. There’s already a precedent for Lizzie being moved to Hulu within the company.
Disney has a terrible track record in the last several years of doing things their way and not having people who care about the projects involved and it’s failed miserabley.
Yes I am disappointed because The Lizzie McGuire was my favorite Childhood TV show.
This is really sad and baffling. I can’t understand how they managed to pick it up to series with a pitch from the original creator and the original star(s) attached yet somehow there was a disconnect from that to the final product. Did no one read scripts or have a conversation before filming started? They used this show for promo to get D+! I can’t fathom how they think a G version of this show is what people want. Whatever, I hope Hilary Duff and Terri Minsky were paid for an entire season’s worth of episodes and compensated for their appearances to sell Disney +
So disappointed. This needs to happen.
I’m glad she fought for a Lizzie that would reflect her fans as they are today and thus the reality of the world Lizzie would be living in. I’d rather have no more Lizzie than the sanitized and insulting version Disney wanted to push at us.
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Glad Hilary fought for herself, her character, and her fans.
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Shame on Disney
Lizzie would have been so great on hulu and i would have watched every second of it. Im so dissapointed now. Boy meets world was my favorite show as a preteen and when they brought it back to disney it was a disaster. Just like boy meets world, lizzie mcguire fans are not young kids. The fans are mid 20s to mid tol late 30s and we all know how awful girl meets world turned out. The same would have happened with lizzie. Disney as a company has so much money its sick, so does it matter if one little show switches over to hulu? Jerks!
I’m really disappointed and sad about the whole situation.
I loved HILLARY DUFF in this! And her BROTHER! Sad not to see REBOOT!😞
this was really the only reason i downloaded disney +. Netflix should pick this up and Disney need to sell the rights
this is devastating news. i was highly anticipating this reboot :( eff disney for not investing in Hilary and trying to neuter a 30 year old woman. like, WTF? they really think a grown woman having sex is not “family friendly?” the show is not for families! it’s for us milllennials who grew up with Lizzie
I’m so disappointed. I was really looking forward to the new show!