The 'Lizzie McGuire' Revival Is Not Moving Forward At Disney+
Hey now, hey now, this is not what dreams are made of.
The Disney+ Lizzie McGuire revival, which was set to feature Hilary Duff reprising her role as everyone's favorite fourth wall-breaking Disney Channel teen, is officially dead after the search for a new showrunner turned up empty following the firing of creator and revival showrunner Terri Minsky.
Hilary Duff confirmed in an Instagram announcement on Wednesday that the Lizzie McGuire revival is not moving forward at Disney+. "I've been so honored to have the character of Lizzie in my life," Duff said, breaking the news to fans who held out hope that the show could survive the removal of its creator and behind-the-scenes clashes over its creative direction.
"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," Duff continued. "I want any reboot of Lizzie to be honest and authentic to who Lizzie would be today. It's what the character deserves."
What Duff is obliquely referring to in her statement about the portrayal of Lizzie McGuire being "honest and authentic to who Lizzie would be today" stems from the clashes over the "family-friendly" appeal of the Lizzie McGuire revival. The revival of the beloved Disney Channel show has been in the works at Disney+ since 2019, but things were brought to a halt at the beginning of 2020 when series creator and revival showrunner Terri Minsk was fired two episodes into production. While it wasn't confirmed what led to Disney+ removing Minsky, the behind-the-scenes chatter was that Duff and Minsky wanted to do a more adult version of Lizzie McGuire for the revival, while Disney wanted it to appeal to kids and families, as the original series did. Which would make sense were Lizzie still a 13-year-old kid — but as played by a 33-year-old Duff, it only makes sense for the show to tackle more adult topics.
Duff has indicated on social media that the "family-friendly" designation was a big source of conflict with the Lizzie McGuire team and Disney+ — posting a screenshot of Love, Victor's move to Hulu over the same reasons — and ended up publicly asking Disney to move the series to Hulu, which appears to not have happened. The Hollywood Reporter's Lesley Goldberg reports that Disney+ did look for a new showrunner to replace Minsky, but the search turned up empty. So, cancelation it was.
"Lizzie McGuire fans have high expectations for any new stories," a Disney spokesperson said in a statement to Variety. "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."
You can read Duff's full statement below.