Hilary Duff Reveals How Son Reacted to Seeing Her on ‘Lizzie McGuire’ Ahead of Disney+ Reboot

Disney is bringing back the Disney Channel classic series Lizzie McGuire with Hilary Duff in the title role for the new Disney+ streaming service. The revival inspired Duff to show the original series to 7-year-old son Luca Cruz, who was interested in the show at first, but had trouble seeing his mother look so much younger.

“He got really into it and then he’s like, ‘I’m done,’” Duff, 31, told PEOPLE Friday. “I think he’s pretty fascinated to see me so young, not looking the same. He knows that’s his mom but he got over it fast. It’s pretty funny, he’s not there yet.”

She continued, “I feel like I need to let him know that this was the show that started it all for me and what’s gonna happen when the second phase of that is happening.”

Duff is also the mother of Banks Violet Bair, who was born in October 2018. She is engaged to Matthew Koma, and was previously married to Mike Comrie, Luca’s father, from 2010 to 2014.

Disney announced plans for a new Lizzie McGuire series at D23 on Friday. The show will find Lizzie, now 30, navigating life in New York City. It will follow the format of the original 2001-2004 series, with an animated Lizzie showing the viewer what Lizzie is really thinking.

During its original four-season run, Lizzie McGuire was one of the Disney Channel’s most popular series. Disney also produced The Lizzie McGuire Movie in 2003, in which Lizzie goes to Rome and is mistaken for a pop star.

Duff, who also stars on TVLand’s comedy Younger, began teasing talks of a revival in December. After Friday’s announcement, she no longer has to contain her excitement.

“The conversations have gone on for a couple of years and the timing just didn’t seem right and now Lizzie is turning 30,” Duff explained to PEOPLE. “For me, she was everybody’s best friend and she was there for us… entering your 30s is a really big deal.”

The actress continued, “I think it’s the right time to set back in and have her go along with you in your 30s and all the fun times, and all of the big monumental moments, and all of the challenges that you’re faced with. I just thought that there was an opportunity there for her to be grown up and for her to be there for women again.”

Duff admitted she is a “little intimidated” to return to the character. After all, Lizzie was 13 years old during the original series.

“Our lives are very different — she’s not a mother, I am already a mother — but I think that’s what’s exciting, to step into someone else’s world whose a little bit different than your own, but I can’t wait,” Duff told PEOPLE. “I can’t wait for her adventures, for her heartbreak, to see her goals and what she’s done.”

Disney+ is set to launch on Nov. 12, but the new Lizzie McGuire series does not have a release date yet.

Photo credit: Ari Perilstein / Getty Images for Feld Entertainment, Inc.