Hilary Duff Reveals ‘Racy’ Plot for Disney’s Canceled ‘Lizzie McGuire’ Revival

Although one recent Hilary Duff show has been released, the one that never will be has continued to draw fascination. Before she signed on to Hulu’s How I Met Your Father, Duff worked on a Disney+ Lizzie McGuire series that was ultimately scrapped. Duff has repeatedly said the subject material was too racy for Disney+, and she shared even more details about the plot in a new Cosmopolitan interview.

The new Lizzie was a continuation of the original Disney Channel show, and the title character was now in her 30s. “My character was moving back home with her parents because she caught her soon-to-be fiancé cheating on her, and she was falling flat on her face at the moment and being like, ‘I need to pivot because everything that I thought was wasn’t, and I’m turning 30. What the f-?’” Duff told Cosmopolitan.

The Lizzie revival was canceled after two episodes were filmed, and fans of the original series will always be interested in seeing what those looked like. However, Duff does not think she would ever release them herself (if she even could without getting into legal trouble with Disney). She also said it was “really sweet” that people continue to ask her about the show.

“I would be lying if I didn’t say I didn’t have those thoughts a few times,” Duff told Cosmopolitan when asked if she would leak the show or attempt another revival. “But I wouldn’t, because in my 34 years I’ve realized that everything does happen for a reason. There’s a time and a place for everything. It just wasn’t her moment. I’m constantly asked about it still. All it does is breathe life into the fact that people still want it, and that’s really sweet. It’s not dead, and it’s not alive.”

The experience almost led to Duff turning down HIMYF. It was only after she was told the project would not be a reboot of How I Met Your Mother that she agreed to star in it, she told The Hollywood Reporter. HIMYF also kept her from starring in a Younger spin-off focused on her character Kelsey.

Lizzie McGuire was created by Terri Minsky, who signed on as showrunner for the revival. After Minky left the show, there were plans to resume filming, but that never happened. In December 2020, Duff told her fans on Instagram the project would not be finished. She felt it would be a “disservice” to the original Lizzie fans who are now in their 30s as well if they “limited the realities of a 30-yewar-old’s journey” to a PG-rated ceiling. She lobbied for Disney to move the project to Hulu, which Disney holds a majority stake in. Hulu is the home of How I Met Your Father, which began on Jan. 18. New episodes are released every Thursday.