The planned revival of “Lizzie McGuire” is officially dead at Disney Plus.
Series star Hilary Duff made the announcement on Instagram on Wednesday, saying, “I am so honored to have had Lizzie’s character in my life.”
“I know the efforts and talks all over were tiring to make a reboot work, but unfortunately and despite everyone’s best efforts, it won’t happen,” she continued. “I want every Lizzie reboot to be fair and authentic to who Lizzie would be today. It’s what the character deserves. “
Her full statement can be read below.
“Lizzie McGuire fans have high hopes for new stories,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement. “Unless and until we are confident that we can meet those expectations, we have decided to postpone it and today informed cast representatives that we are not going ahead with the planned series.”
The revival of the hit Disney Channel show had been in the works at Disney Plus since 2019, but production ceased at the beginning of the year when “Lizzie McGuire” creator and revival showrunner Terri Minsky was removed from that role on the show . .
Production on the show began in November, but was interrupted in early January when Duff went on a honeymoon in Mozambique. Two days before she returned, Variety news broke that Minsky would be fired. According to multiple sources, Minsky, her writers, the production team and Duff found out that Minsky was only removed as a showrunner after the Variety story was published despite Variety Contacted Disney hours prior to publication for comment.
Variety also reported exclusively on the behind-the-scenes troubles that led to Minsky’s unceremonious exit. Basically, Duff and Minsky wanted to make a more grown-up version of Lizzie for the revival, while Disney wants a show that will appeal to kids and families, something more like the original series. Sources say Disney was initially on board with Minsky and Duff’s take, but the company decided to take the series in a different direction after the first two episodes were completed.
Duff remained largely silent about the issues with the show until she posted a screenshot on her Instagram story of a news headline about the planned Disney Plus “Love, Simon” series. Now titled “Love, Victor,” the show was moved to Hulu after it wasn’t deemed “family-friendly” enough for the Disney brand streamer. In her post, Duff circled the words “family friendly” in the headline and wrote “Sounds familiar” above it.
She then publicly asked Disney to move the series to Hulu as well to allow for a more adult-friendly version of the series, although it clearly didn’t.
In addition to Duff, original series stars Jake Thomas, Hallie Todd and Robert Carradine were all set to star in the series. Adam Lamberg, who played Lizzie’s friend Gordo, was also set to appear.