Lizzie McGuire: Hilary Duff Teases Scrapped Revival Plot

For a generation of fans, Disney Channel’s Lizzie McGuire was a foundational part of their childhood, with the Hilary Duff-led series providing a charming look at growing up. In recent years, conversations began to pop up around potentially reviving the series for Disney+, which would have followed an older Lizzie in the trials and tribulations of adulthood. The process got so far that two episodes were even filmed, before the project ultimately fell apart due to creative differences about the series’ adult content, with Duff ultimately finding a new television gig in the form of Hulu’s How I Met Your Father. In a recent interview with Cosmopolitan, Duff spoke about what the older-skewed content of the Lizzie McGuire revival would have entailed, confirming previous reports that it involved storylines considering sex and cheating.

“My character was moving back home with her parents because she caught her soon-to-be fiancé cheating on her,” Duff explained, “and she was falling flat on her face at the moment and being like, ‘I need to pivot because everything that I thought was wasn’t, and I’m turning 30. What the f-ck?’”

Duff also addressed the possibility of her “leaking” the revival episodes, and revealed that although the thought has crossed her mind, she still regards the project to not be “dead” or “alive.”

“I like the way you think,” Duff revealed. “I would be lying if I didn’t say I didn’t have those thoughts a few times. But I wouldn’t, because in my 34 years I’ve realized that everything does happen for a reason. There’s a time and a place for everything. It just wasn’t her moment. I’m constantly asked about it still. All it does is breathe life into the fact that people still want it, and that’s really sweet. It’s not dead, and it’s not alive.”

In a previous social media post shortly after the Lizzie news initially broke, Duff said that she wanted a Lizzie reboot to be “honest and authentic” to who the character would be as an adult.

“I’ve been so honored to have the character of Lizzie in my life,” Duff’s post on social media read at the time. “She has made such a lasting impact on many, including myself. 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. 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 with her. I’m very sad, but I promise everyone tried the best and the stars just didn’t align. Hey now, this is what 2020s made of.”

How I Met Your Father is now available to stream on Hulu.