Hilary Duff Just Announced That The Lizzie McGuire Reboot ‘isn’t going to happen’
Last year, fans of Lizzie received news that Hillary Duff would be returning to her iconic role for Disney+. The rebooted series, which was revealed to be of the same name, was set to debut on Disney’s new streaming platform. At the time of the announcement, fans of the original series didn’t have too many details but enough excitement to wait for it debut.
Sadly, the waiting was just revealed to be in vain.
The planned “Lizzie McGuire” reboot is officially over.
In a statement posted to Instagram, Hilary Duff announced the news.
“I know the efforts and conversations have been everywhere tiring to make a reboot work but, sadly & despite everyone’s best efforts, it isn’t going to happen,” she continued. “I want any reboot of Lizzie to be honest and authentic to who Lizzie would be today. It’s what the character deserves,” she wrote.
“Lizzie McGuire’ fans have high expectations for any new stories,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement. “Unless and until we are confident we can meet those expectations, we’ve decided to hold off and today, we informed the cast’s representatives that we are not moving forward with the planned series.”
Earlier this year,Variety reported on behind-the-scenes issues with production. “In short, Duff and [the original showrunner] wanted to do a more adult version of Lizzie for the revival, while Disney wants a show that would appeal to kids and families, something more akin to the original series. Sources say Disney was initially on board with Minsky and Duff’s take, but the company decided to move in a different direction with the series after the first two episodes were completed.”
In May, Hillary Duff shared a 44 minute “Lizzie McGuire” reunion featuring one of the series’ most memorable moments.
In a caption to her Instagram post, Duff shared that she had virtually reconnected with her former costars for an online table read of the series’ “Between a Rock and a Bra Place!” episode. According to People magazine, the episode was aired on the Disney Channel 19 years ago.
“LIZZIE MCGUIRE retro table read!” Duff wrote in a caption for the clip. “Some fun for you this Monday! Hope you guys have fun watching this! We could not stop laughing reading lines from tween us…this is the first time we were all “together-ish” in almost 18 years! This week marks the 19th anniversary of this episode ‘Between a Rock and a Bra Place!’ Do excuse our delayed singing…we will be taking singing lessons as a group to work on our craft!!”
The reunion included some of your favorite Lizzie McGuire characters.
Joining in on the fun was Adam Lamberg (AKA Gordo), Lalaine, (Lizzie’s BFF Miranda), Jake Thomas (Matt McGuire), Robert Carradine (Sam McGuire), Hallie Todd (Jo McGuire), Ashlie Brillault (Kate) and Davida Williams (Claire).
“I truly believe that this show was magical, and everyone that was a part of it created that … and made this show mean so much to so many people,” Duff said following the table read. “I think we’re all very grateful to have experienced that.”
If you don’t remember, the”Between a Rock and a Bra Place!” episode was the one in which Lizzie and Miranda wanted “a BRA!!”
The episode followed Lizzie and Miranda attempting to be cool by convincing their parents to order them bras while Gordo helped Lizzie’s younger brother Matt enter a contest to become Jet Li’s sidekick in a movie.
No doubt the highlight of this reunion was getting to see Lelaine back in action!
Her role as Mexican-American Miranda Sanchez might not have been the titular lead of “Lizzie McGuire” but she was undoubtedly the character with the most heart, wit, and lessons. Here’s a look at the character who brought all the realness to Disney channel’s best show.
