Four years after Disney cancelled the much-anticipated Lizzie McGuire reboot, one of the show’s writers has revealed more details about what we could have expected from the show’s plot and exactly why it never came to be.
Taking to TikTok, writer Jonathan Hurwitz gave fans a run down of the first few episodes, explaining that the show was going to start with a 30-year-old Lizzie, played by Hilary Duff, working as an interior designer in New York City. The character was then going to find out that her handsome chef boyfriend was actually cheating on her with her best friend (don’t worry, not Miranda).
The break-up would see Lizzie move back to California, where the original show was set, and into her childhood home “where her little animated Lizzie has been waiting for her.”
In the second episode, Lizzie meets up with her childhood friend (who , if you remember, she also shares a kiss with at the end of the movie).
“Lizzie meets up with Gordo (Adam Lamberg), who she’s just kind of been in touch with via text over the years, occasionally,” Hurwitz explained.
“Gordo reveals that he is engaged to a woman and she’s pregnant and they’re really happy.”
While Lizzie might not have rekindled things with Gordo, the writers were planning to have her reunite with a different love interest—her first crush, Ethan Craft (Clayton Snyder).
“Episode three wasn’t filmed, but there was a script for it,” Hurwitz said.
“Lizzie wakes up in Ethan’s bed in his water polo T-shirt,” Hurwitz said. “She then “checks off” her Ethan box “twice” on her “To Do” list.”
This scene, as it turns out, is what Hurwitz believes Disney wasn’t a fan of.
While we don’t know for sure, it seems to align with the explanation the show’s star, Hilary Duff gave at the time, about the show not existing under a PG rating.
“I know the efforts and conversations have been everywhere trying to make a reboot work but, sadly and despite everyone’s best efforts, it isn’t going to happen,” Duff explained on Instagram.
“I’d be doing a disservice to everyone by limiting the realities of a 30 year olds journey to live under a PG rating.”
“It’s important to me that just as her experiences as a preteen/teenager navigating life were authentic, her next chapters are equally real and relatable.”
“I want any reboot of Lizzie to be honest and authentic to who Lizzie would be today. It’s what the character deserves,” she said.
The writer also revealed some other fun plot points we wished we got to see come to life, like Lizzie giving herself bangs during a break down.
We can only dream that Disney changes their mind and puts the show on Hulu instead.
