We've got some really bad news for all you '90s and early '00s kids out there: the highly-anticipated Lizzie McGuire revival series that was supposed to be coming to the Disney+ streaming service is officially dead in the water.
Longtime LGBTQ-ally and Lizzie actress Hilary Duff broke the news to her 16 million Instagram followers earlier today, letting everyone know that despite everyone's best efforts to make a reboot work, it's, unfortunately, not going to happen.
"I’ve been so honored to have the character of Lizzie in my life," Hilary wrote in her post.
She continued:
"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."
Ever since it was announced back in 2019, the Lizzie McGuire revival has been plagued with delays and setbacks. According to The Wrap, the reboot's attached showrunner Terri Minsky exited production of the series because of creative differences with the heads of Disney+. Both she and Hilary wanted to create a mature, authentic, and real-life depiction of what Lizzie (who would be a 30-year-old working professional in the show) and her life would be like, but allegedly, the "grown-up" themes for a Lizzie McGuire reboot (like having an openly gay character) didn't match with the "family-friendly" vision of Disney's streaming platform.
Similar controversy was sparked by Disney+ earlier this year when they moved the Love, Simon television adaptation, Love, Victor, to Hulu after deeming it not "family-friendly" enough for Disney+. Close, anonymous sources told Variety that "Disney felt many issues explored on the show, including alcohol use and sexual exploration, would not fit in with the family-friendly content on Disney Plus."
Hilary herself noticed this convenient coincidence when it happened, promptly taking to her Instagram stories to throw some shade at the mouse company for deeming gay-inclusion and themes not "family-friendly."
Following Hilary's Insta post earlier today, Disney folks released their own statement about the plans to stop a Lizzie McGuire reboot from becoming a reality.
“Lizzie McGuire’ fans have high expectations for any new stories," a Disney spokesperson said in a statement, according to Variety. "Unless and until we are confident we can meet those expectations, we’ve decided to hold off and today, we informed the cast’s representatives that we are not moving forward with the planned series."
While we can't say that we're 100-percent shocked (corporate homophobia is still very much a thing, y'all!), we are still definitely 100-percent disappointed about all of this! Can you imagine how good a more mature, queer-inclusive, Sex and the City-style Lizzie McGuire series would have been? The world was robbed of this blessing!
