The planned revival of the “Lizzie McGuire” franchise, which was set to feature Hilary Duff reprising her role as the fourth-wall-breaking Disney Channel character, is officially dead.
Hilary Duff confirmed the news in an Instagram announcement on Wednesday, saying the project is not moving forward and a new showrunner has not been found in the wake of the firing of creator and revival showrunner Terri Minsky.
Duff said in a statement to fans: “I’ve been so honoured to have the character of Lizzie in my life. 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.”
A lot of the issue stemmed from behind-the-scenes clashes over the show’s creative direction. Essentially Disney+ wanted something akin to the original Disney Channel show (ala “Fuller House”) with a very family-friendly approach and no real growth of the character.
Duff and much of the creative team wanted to tackle some more adult topics – understandable as the character would now be 33 rather than 13. Attempts were made to reach a compromise (ala “Love Victor” being moved to Hulu), but in the end, they couldn’t agree.
