Hilary Duff insists Disney weren't "willing" to embrace Lizzie McGuire in her 30s
The 38-year-old actress has opened up on the planned revival of her beloved Disney Channel show, which was scrapped in late 2020 over creative differences between the star and producers.
11 November 2025
She told Jake Shane's Therapuss podcast: "I think that there was just disagreements on how far we could take [Lizzie] and where she is, as you know, she would have been when we were filming that 30 or 31.
"And for me, I was that age and so I just also felt so deeply connected to her as a character because we were the same...
"And I was like, oh, man, we can't Mary Tyler Moore her that's not, I don't know, it was 2023. You know what I mean?
"There's social media and we weren't I wasn't trying to have her wake up and do bong rips or anything, but she was a normal 30-year-old, you know?
"So, there was some things I think they just weren't like, totally willing to go there."
The show's story ended with The Lizzie McGuire Movie in 2003, with Lizzie and Gordo (Adam Lamberg) kissing, but she doesn't think the two characters had a future after the smooch.
She said: "So I don't think they had a thing post. I think they had maybe an almost thing post.
"I know, again, another swing at it that didn't. But I think that there was a thing with someone else that was just very quick.
"In my mind, I like to think she had a thing with [Clayton Snyder's character] Ethan Craft finally."
When she announced the decision to cancel the reboot, Hilary noted that had been an "honour" to play Lizzie but insisted she would want any revival series to be an "honest" representation of her signature character.
At the time, she wrote on Instagram: "I know the efforts and conversations have been everything trying to make a reboot work, but sadly [and] 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 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. (sic)"
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