Hilary Duff Describes Conversations With Disney as "Very Protective" In Cancelled "Lizzie McGuire" Reboot

In an interview for SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show, Lizzie McGuire star Hilary Duff added a bit more insight into what happened behind the scenes of her Disney+ Sequel Series that never came to be.

What’s Happening:

In an appearance on Thursday’s The Jess Cagle Show on SiriusXM, former Disney Channel Star Hilary Duff shared how her vision for the ill-fated reboot of her series Lizzie McGuire for Disney+ never came to fruition.
Duff reportedly hesitated when asked to describe the talks with Disney, eventually saying that there were a lot of “creative decisions” regarding her character, emphasizing that the discussions weren’t “a battle” like some might imagine, but rather herself and Disney both were protective of the character.
Duff said she had personally imagined a more mature version of the character, one that is relatable to the fans who grew up watching her focusing on the ups and downs of adulthood.
The original Disney Channel series, Lizzie McGuire, aired on the network in the early 2000’s, and was slated to be rebooted portraying the popular character as an adult for a sequel series that would be exclusive to Disney+. The new series actually went into production, with table reads, returning cast members, and a reported two episodes in the can before showrunner Terri Minsky left the project, and Duff eventually revealed that the series was not moving forward.
In the SiriusXM program, Duff also said that she was once annoyed by the very mention of the name Lizzie McGuire, saying “There was a point in my life where I couldn’t stand Lizzie McGuire. I was like, ‘I don’t want to hear that name ever again!’” but she was also excited to do the new project, and appreciative of the time she had working with the show’s original cast, saying ““Now that I’m my age, I’m like, ‘I love her.’ This is where it all began for me […] We’re different humans now. It was just all love, and it still is.”
In the interview, Duff again reiterated that the new Lizzie McGuire series isn’t happening.
Though the new Lizzie McGuire series never came to be, Duff is also excited about her new project, a sequel series to How I Met Your Mother titled How I Met Your Father that is set to debut on Hulu.

What They’re Saying:

Hilary Duff: “I think they’re really trying to figure out what kind of content they want living on Disney+. That doesn’t totally align with where I see Lizzie right now. I’m like very protective of her, and they’re very protective of her. […] The way that she could connect with what was going on in people that were watching the show, it was like, [viewers] were watching themselves. And that was where they related. It only makes sense to me to shoot a show where she’s acting like a 30-year-old in a modern world.”