It was the show that taught us to always experiment with our look, to grow at our own pace and to find best friends that we can always rely on (Gordo and Miranda, here’s to you).

Naturally, fans of Lizzie McGuire were thrilled when Disney+ announced it was making a reboot of the series back in 2019. However, the much-hyped revival of our favourite teen show quickly careened off the rails. First, showrunner and Lizzie McGuire creator Terri Minsky left the reboot citing “creative differences”. Soon after, Lizzie McGuire herself, Hilary Duff, revealed on Instagram that the show was on hold, sharing her frustrations that the series was stalled. 

By late 2020, the reboot had been officially cancelled. According to Duff, producers got “spooked” when she insisted on bringing a more adult version of the famous teen to the screen.

And now, three years later, it appears that hope is not completely lost – with Duff revealing that she’s still keen to find a way to bring a thirty-something Lizzie McGuire to the small screen.

What is the latest news on the Lizzie McGuire revival?

Even though Disney+ cancelled the Lizzie McGuire revival in 2020, it’s not totally beyond the realms of possibility that we might see the iconic clumsy teen again – one day. 

During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live earlier this year, Duff revealed that she hasn’t given up hope of winning over the Disney+ producers. “If the Lizzie McGuire reboot could live up to your vision, would you move forward with the revival?” asked host Andy Cohen. 

“Of course,” Duff said without hesitation.

“Disney+ was very new, you know, and I think they, like, were figuring our their… and we were figuring out our… and so I am optimistic,” she explained carefully. 

And that’s not all. In 2023, Lizzie McGuire fans did get a chance to see Lizzie appear on screen again. During an episode of Duff’s Hulu series How I Met Your Father, a clip from the original Lizzie McGuire show featuring Lizzie and her friend Miranda was used as a flashback for Duff’s character, Sophie. Naturally, fans were over the moon. 

Duff was also thrilled that Lizzie made it back to our screens. However, as she explained in a recent interview with Shape magazine, she still didn’t think the small clip was enough. “I don’t think it was enough to satisfy the fact that [the Disney+ Lizzie McGuire revival] project is shelved,” said the actor. 

She added that while she is still hopeful about making the project happen, she wants to resurrect the character while she’s still in her 30s. In other words, it has to happen in the next five years. Suffice to say, all of our fingers are crossed.

What exactly went wrong with the original reboot?

According to multiple reports, the production process for the reboot was not exactly smooth sailing.

In January 2020, original series creator and revival showrunner Terri Minsky left the project unexpectedly after just two episodes had been filmed. At the time, Disney+ said: “We need to move in a different creative direction and put a new lens on the series.”

On February 26, 2020, Duff herself hinted at what was behind the revival problems of the Disney+ series. The actor posted a screenshot of a report about the Love, Simon spinoff series Love, Victor, which was moving from Disney+ to Hulu because it was not “family-friendly” enough for Disney+. “Sounds familiar,” Duff wrote, hinting that the Lizzie McGuire reboot might be facing similar obstacles.

Variety reported that while Disney+ was originally on board with Minsky and Duff wanting to do a more “adult” version of Lizzie, they later pushed for “a show that would appeal to kids and families” and “something more akin to the original series”.

After leaving the reboot, Minsky told Variety she was “so proud” of the two episodes she made for the rebooted series, and would love to continue the grown-up Lizzie McGuire project on another platform. “Hilary had a grasp of Lizzie McGuire at 30 that needs to be seen,” the showrunner said. “It’s a wonderful thing to watch. I would love the show to exist, but ideally I would love it if it could be given that treatment of going to Hulu and doing the show that we were doing.”

In an Instagram post in February 2020, Duff begged Disney+ to allow the show to move to Hulu in order to ensure that it did not have to “live under the ceiling of a PG-13 rating”. Lizzie’s authenticity in the original TV show, Duff said, mattered to the fans so much. She did not want to be part of a series that did not honour that authenticity by not portraying the realities of a 30-year-old in New York City’s messy, chaotic life.

And what might those realities be? According to The Hollywood Reporter, which obtained a copy of the script for the reboot’s first episode, one of those realities is sex. The first episode, according to the publication, also acknowledged “cheating as a central plot point”. 

So there you have it. Duff wanted to make a Lizzie McGuire series that was honest about the way a 30-something would navigate the world of sex, relationships and dating. The Lizzie McGuire reboot was going to be sexy as hell, and we might never get to see it. This isn’t what dreams are made of, it’s the stuff of nightmares. 

What would the Lizzie McGuire revival have been about?

In August 2019, Disney announced that it would be reviving the hit show, which followed 13-year-old Lizzie, who dreamed of being popular in school, alongside her animated alter ego that revealed her true thoughts and feelings. 

The reboot planned on picking up 15 years on from the last episode. The sequel series would have followed a more self-assured Lizzie navigating life as a millennial in New York City, getting ready to celebrate her 30th birthday.

“The good news is, just like me and everybody who loved Lizzie and has grown up with her, Lizzie’s also grown up,” Duff said on stage at the D23 Expo convention when the revival was announced. “She’s older, she’s wiser, she has a much bigger shoe budget, which is super exciting. She has her dream job. She has kind of the perfect life right now.”

“She’s working as an apprentice to a fancy New York City decorator,” she continued. “She has her dream guy, who owns a cool SoHo restaurant. She has her dream apartment in Brooklyn. And she’s getting ready to celebrate her 30th birthday.”

However, Duff confirmed that Lizzie was still having to deal with her pesky alter-ego. “She is still dealing with that 13-year-old no-holds-barred animated Lizzie that’s constantly babbling in her adult Lizzie head,” she added. “So she has to deal with that. But I think that’s what’s going to make it really special.”

The original series catapulted Duff into the spotlight and brought huge success as a triple-platinum-selling music artist. She also starred in the successful feature, The Lizzie McGuire Movie, which grossed $55 million (£43m) at the global box office, and numerous other films and TV shows, including TV Land’s hit series Younger.

Was there ever a trailer for the Lizzie McGuire revival?

While Disney+ never released a trailer, we did get our first glimpse at the highly anticipated reboot thanks to a clip from Disney+, which foreshadowed the company’s “2020 vision”.

The minute-long video on Twitter showed a sneak peek of everything that was coming to the platform in 2020, from Toy Story 4 to Aladdin.

In the clip, we see Hilary Duff’s character leaning through a car window, saying: “Hi, it’s me,” though it’s not entirely clear to whom she was talking.

While it seems unlikely that this long-awaited reboot will ever make it to air via Disney+, if Duff’s optimism is anything to go by, it might not be time to give up hope entirely just yet.

Images: Getty; Walt Disney Television

This article was originally published on 24 August 2019 and has been updated throughout.