‘Lizzie McGuire’ Revival No Longer Happening, Hilary Duff Says

Hilary Duff announced on Wednesday that the Lizzie McGuire revival planned for Disney+ is no longer happening. The actress shared a heartfelt note with fans on Instagram, explaining the decision to end the reboot. Many disappointed fans left passionate comments, calling on Disney to change its mind.

“I’ve been so honored to have the character of Lizzie in my life,” Duff wrote. 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 everywhere 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,” Duff went on. “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 2020s made of.”

Duff punctuated the post with a winking emoji, but that did not take the sting out of it for many of her followers. The comments were filled with heartbreak, and many fans questioning if there was anything left that could be done for this long-awaited reboot.

“NO HILARY NO I WONT ACCEPT THIS YOU GUYS CAN DO IT WITHOUT DISENY [sic],” one fan wrote. Another commented: “I am genuinely so sad reading this, Lizzie is my whole life and I’m so gutted there won’t be anymore of her.” A third added: “Ugh breaks my heart!! I was so excited for a reboot!”

The Lizzie McGuire reboot was announced at the D23 Expo in the summer of 2019, with Duff herself giving fans the good news. The show would have picked up with Lizzie’s life just as she turned 30, and would reportedly have found her chasing her dream career as an interior designer in New York City. The animated counterpart to Lizzie would have remained 13 years old for commentary.

Original cast members Hallie Todd, Robert Carradine and Jake Thomas were already confirmed to return to the series, and some filming had even been done. The original series creator Terri Minsky had also returned as the showrunner, though she left the project in January.

Since then, Duff has often called out Disney publicly, asking the company to approve big changes to the Lizzie McGuire franchise. She wanted to target a more mature audience with the reboot — likely the fans who had grown up with the series and did not want to be constrained by “the ceiling of a PG rating.” So far, Disney has not commented on Duff’s announcement that the reboot is canceled.