Hilary Duff, the star and executive producer of the Disney+ revival Lizzie McGuire, has been increasingly vocal about wanting to move the show to Hulu, as other shows deemed to adult for the House of Mouse have been.
She recently wrote on social media: “Was incredibly excited to launch Lizzie on D+ and my passion remains! However, I feel a huge responsibility to honor the fans' relationship with Lizzie, who, like me, grew up seeing themselves in her. I'd be doing a disservice to everyone by limited the realities of a 30-year-old's journey to live under the ceiling of a PG rating. It's important to me that just as her experiences a preteen/teenager navigating life were authentic, her next chapters are equally as real and relatable. It would be a dream if Disney would let us move the show to Hulu, if they were interested, and I could bring this beloved character to life again.”
According to a report in The Hollywood Reporter, Disney+ objected to the themes of sex and infidelity that Duff wanted tackled. Production has been halted and series producer and exec producer Terri Minsky was let go.
Fans are reacting to the reports, and the sentiments seem split between some who say it doesn’t make sense to turn a show for kids into an adult show, while others say the original show’s fans are now adults.
Several fans were not into a revamped adult Lizzie. Wrote one: “Having the LIZZIE MCGUIRE sequel series be about sex and super mature situations is like if they made a Wizards of Waverly Place revival but Max is an alcoholic and Alex does weed now.”
But others embraced the version. Opined one: “because..we (the intended target audience, the ppl who watched Lizzie Mcguire as young teens) grew up?”