After months of speculation following their original announcement, Hilary Duff has confirmed that the planned Lizzie McGuire reboot is no longer happening.
On Wednesday, the former Disney Channel star posted a long note on her Instagram, which explains the unfortunate situation.
“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,” the actress started in her post. “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 continued, “I want any reboot of Lizzie 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.”
“Hey now, this is what 2020s are made of,” she concluded jokingly, referencing a popular song from The Lizzie McGuire Movie, “What Dreams Are Made Of.”
Following Duff breaking the news, a Disney spokesperson confirmed to The Post that the show is on hold, for now.
“Lizzie McGuire fans have high expectations for any new stories. 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,” the spokesperson said.
Lizzie McGuire originally aired on Disney from 2001 to 2004, with The Lizzie McGuire Movie hitting theaters in 2003. Even though the life of the show was fairly short, the series made a huge impression on fans and has been a favorite among millennials for decades.
Last summer, it was announced that a reboot series--which was said to follow Lizzie as an adult--was hitting Disney+. The news sent fans into a frenzy, but ever since the initial announcement, the only news surrounding the show has been multiple setbacks for the series, many of which were alluded to by Duff herself.
The creator of Lizzie McGuire, Terri Minsky, was set to executive produce the reboot alongside Duff, but departed from the series in January, signaling the revival’s first set of struggles. After that, the show went on hiatus.
While there’s no blatant explanation as to what went wrong, the problem with the reboot was rumored to be that Disney+ wanted to make it more “family friendly,” while Duff hoped to make a more realistic look at the life of a woman in her 30s.
