Lizzie sent Disney into a tizzy.
That seems to be the message from Hilary Duff regarding the cancellation of the revival of her iconic, early 2000s television show “Lizzie McGuire.”
“I think they are really trying to figure out what kind of content they want living on Disney+, and that doesn’t totally align with, like, where I see Lizzie right now,” she said during an appearance on “The Jess Cagle Show” Thursday, during which she dished about the retracted Disney Channel revival, which was announced in 2019 to major buzz but was abandoned last December.
“I’m very protective of her and they’re very protective of her,” she added.
Duff, 33, previously explained that she and original creator Terri Minsky — who departed the enterprise in early 2020 — wanted to take the show in a more adult direction than Disney was comfortable with.
She reiterated that point Thursday, saying, “The one thing for me was just the way that she could connect with what was going on in people that were watching the show. And so, for me, it only makes sense to me to shoot a show where she’s acting like a 30-year-old in a modern world.”
Members of the original cast were brought back and shot two episodes in November of 2019 before the revival was ditched.
In February of 2020, Duff posted on Instagram asking Disney+ to move the revival of her show to Hulu, where the story wouldn’t have to live under a PG rating, but they did not accept the request.
“There [were] a lot of creative discussions where maybe they were thinking that’s not quite right, and we were trying to make it work,” she told Cagle. “And, you know, there’s always, like, lots of conversations, but I don’t think it’s going to be happening.”
However short-lived the idea was, Duff — who last month was cast in “How I Met Your Father,” a sequel to the long-running sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” — was appreciative of her time reconnecting with her beloved character and former castmates.
“It was lovely to relive that even for three weeks of my life, because, you know, there was a point in my life where I couldn’t stand Lizzie McGuire,” she said.
“And I was like, ‘I don’t want to hear that name ever again.’ And now that I’m my age, I’m, like, I love her.”
Hilary also was very grateful for the boost the character made for her career.
“She’s, you know, this is where it all began for me. And she is me and I am her. And I brought what I could to that, which was very much just who I am inside,” she said. “And so to tap into that again, even for a moment, was really a great experience.”