Hilary Duff has revealed that she was tempted to leak episodes of the Lizzie McGuire reboot following its cancellation. Having established itself as one of Disney Channel’s more beloved series of the early 2000s, fans were delighted when Disney announced back in 2019 that Duff would be returning to her role as the iconic Lizzie McGuire, in a story that would follow the now-30-something as she navigated the adult world. Duff’s enthusiasm to return to the role has been a constant throughout the series’ production and has continued on through the shows’ eventual cancellation, with “creative differences” being cited as the reason for production coming to a halt mid-filming.
Despite the various obstacles that the series encountered, Duff had been incredibly vocal about her intentions to make the reboot both as authentic and honest to the character she originated as possible. Given the chaos that appeared to surround the Lizzie McGuire reboot, very little was revealed with regards to the plot; however, a number of Duff’s original costars were set to return, including Jake Thomas (Lizzie’s younger brother, Matt), Adam Lamberg (Lizzie’s best friend, Gordo) as well both Hallie Todd and Robert Carradine (Lizzie’s parents). Hopping from one reboot to another, Duff is currently starring in How I Met Your Father, a spin-off to the beloved sitcom How I Met Your Mother, which aired its final episode in 2014, but it appears as though Lizzie McGuire is still firmly on the star’s mind.
Speaking to Cosmopolitan, Duff was asked about the doomed reboot and whether she had ever thought about leaking any of the footage that had been filmed prior to the show’s cancellation. Duff revealed that she “would be lying” if she said she hadn’t thought about it. The star went on to share that she is “constantly asked about it still,” but that she has accepted now that “everything does happen for a reason” and that it “wasn’t [Lizzie’s] moment.” Check out Duff’s full quote below.
I like the way you think. 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 the interview, the 34-year-old also offered a glimpse at what could have been if the revival had gone ahead. Duff shared that the series would have seen Lizzie moving back in with her parents following the discovery that her fiancé had been cheating on her. The series was expected to follow a similar format to the original Lizzie McGuire series, in which an animated version of Lizzie acted as the comic relief between scenes, offering some internal monologue from the titular character.
Given that it’s been almost 20 years since audiences last saw Lizzie on screen, it’s fair to say that fans were definitely ready to see what their beloved character had been up to after all this time. As for what will become of the footage that had been filmed for the canceled reboot, that remains to be seen but in the age of the internet, leaks are almost never out of the question, and it seems that at one point, Duff could have been close to being the one behind them. For now, it seems as though Duff has made peace with the series’ cancellation, but who knows what the future could hold for Lizzie McGuire.
