To state the obvious: This is not what dreams are made of. In fact, this is a damn nightmare. After being plagued by various creative difficulties and changes throughout the past year, Hilary Duff confirmed today that her highly anticipated Lizzie McGuire reboot will not be moving forward at Disney+. “I know efforts and conversations have been everywhere trying to make a reboot work but, sadly and despite everyone’s best efforts, it isn’t going to happen,†she wrote on Instagram. “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 2020’s made of.†Duff added that she’s well aware of the “lasting impact†her character has made, and that it’s been an “honor†to have portrayed Lizzie.
The Lizzie McGuire reboot was first confirmed in August 2019 with the show’s original stars and creator, but it soon faced a series of disagreements over how it would approach the character’s adult life: Terri Minsky, who created the show, wound up leaving in January after two episodes were filmed, cryptically citing an unhappiness with the “creative direction†that Disney+ was pushing on Lizzie. Duff herself began publicly expressing annoyance in February about how the reboot was being handled, implying that its “adult themes†were not deemed “family-friendly†enough for Disney audiences. (The show reportedly started off with Lizzie living in Brooklyn and discovering her fiancé is a cheater, and not, like, Lizzie embracing the life of a cam girl.) Duff would go on to ask Disney to move the show to Hulu, so the character wouldn’t have the disservice of “limiting the realities of a 30-year-old’s journey to live under the ceiling of a PG rating.†Sadly, it seems Disney didn’t agree. We’re burning our bras in solidarity today.