Posted in: Disney+, Hulu, TV | Tagged: disney, hilary duff, hulu, lizzie mcguire

Lizzie McGuire Writer Shares Interesting Series Revival Plot Details

Writer Jonathan Hurwitz shared some plot details on the Hilary Duff-starring Lizzie McGuire revival that Disney might have had issues with.

Before Hilary Duff & Disney+'s Hulu would go on a two-season run with "How I Met Your Mother" spinoff series How I Met Your Father, "The Mouse" was looking to bring back Duff's popular character Lizzie McGuire for a reboot series on the streamer. We spent a good chunk of 2020 covering the creative tug-of-war between Duff and Disney+/Hulu over the direction that Lizzie's return should take. Much like with Zoe Kravitz's High Fidelity (shockingly canceled after only one well-received season), Duff was looking to take the character in a more modern, realistic direction that would've necessitated a move to Hulu. But Disney wasn't interested in any take on Lizzie McGuire that wasn't family-friendly enough to appear on its then-new streaming service – and that would lead to a creative stand-off between both sides. In December 2020, Duff confirmed that the project was officially dead (after reportedly at least two episodes were filmed). Taking to TikTok for a series of posts offering insights into writing for the canceled revival series, Jonathan Hurtwitz shared some plot details from the two filmed episodes – as well as what it was about the script for Episode 3 that might've been a bridge too far for Disney.

When the series opens, Lizzie is an interior designer who lives in New York City – that is until her chef boyfriend cheats on her with Lizzie's best friends. So Lizzie heads back home to California – where her animated persona is waiting. In the second episode, Lizzie learns that her best friend, David "Gordo" Gordon (played by Adam Lamberg in the original series), is happily engaged and soon to be a dad. At the end of the second episode, Lizzie gets a message from her old crush Ethan Craft (played by Clayton Snyder in the original series) – and that would lead to what Hurwitz believed was a red flag for Disney.

"Episode 3 wasn't filmed, but there was a script for it. Lizzie wakes up in Ethan's bed, in his water polo t-shirt. Animated Lizzie pops up, and she has this little checklist, like a to-do list, and Ethan is on the list, and she checks it off," Hurwitz shared about what was planned for the third episode. "I think she says something like, 'I checked that box –dramatic pause– twice.' So if I had to guess, I saw another comment about certain storylines [about] why Disney wasn't comfortable with it, my guess was… that moment was probably one of them." Here's a look at Hurtwitz's posts:

@jonathanhurwitz Lizzie getting canceled will forever be my Roman Empire 🥹 #lizziemcguire #lizziemcguirereboot #hilaryduff #tvwriter #writinglife #greenscreen ♬ original sound – jonathanhurwitz

@jonathanhurwitz Cheating boyfriends, gay roommates, high school crushes, oh my! #lizziemcguire #lizziemcguirereboot #hilaryduff #fyp #foryou ♬ original sound – jonathanhurwitz

@jonathanhurwitz Replying to @kujorg Consider the ☕️ spilled 🤭 #lizziemcguire #lizziemcguirereboot #hilaryduff #arianagrande #bangs #greenscreen ♬ original sound – jonathanhurwitz

In the following clip from Bravo's Watch What Happens Live! in January 2023, Duff answered, "Of course," when host Andy Cohen asks her if she would still return to the role. From there, Duff (very cautiously) explained that part of the reason that it didn't work out back then was that the streamer was still "very new" and was still getting a better sense of the content it was going to stream while Duff was doing the same on her creative end. But the segment ended with a (once again) cautious yet promising "I'm optimistic."

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