Oh well, dreams of a reboot of the highly-anticipated iconic teen comedy “Lizzie McGuire” on Disney+ have been dashed.
In an emotional post on Instagram Wednesday Hilary Duff, who starred as lead in the Disney Channel series from 2001 to 2004, wrote:
“I’ve been so honored to have the character of Lizzie in my life. 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 & despite everyone’s best efforts, it isn’t going to happen,” she wrote. She went on to explain that she wanted the reboot “to be honest and authentic to who Lizzie would be today. 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.” Duff ended her note with a nod to the iconic “What Dreams Are Made Of” song from The Lizzie McGuire Movie. “Hey now, this is what 2020s made of.”
“‘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.”
Original series stars Jake Thomas, Hallie Todd, Adam Lamberg and Robert Carradine were all set to return for the series revival which had been in the works since 2019, however production stopped in January 2020 when Terri Minsky, the show’s creator, was removed from the crew, Variety reported.
Disney officials, in making the announcement, said the show was headed “in a different creative direction” than planned.
Meanwhile Duff had also publicly pleaded with Disney in February to move the upcoming revival series from Disney+ to Hulu over concerns Disney’s family-friendly streaming service may limit the journey of her adult character in the reboot.
“I feel a huge responsibility to honor the fans’ relationship with LIZZIE who, like me, grew up seeing themselves in her,” Duff wrote on Instagram on Feb. 28. “I’d be doing a disservice to everyone by limiting the realities of a 30-year-old’s journey to live under the ceiling of a PG rating.”
