Lizzie McGuire writer reveals adult scene that caused Disney+ to cancel the reboot

18 January 2024, 12:02

Hilary Duff says the Lizzie McGuire reboot could still happen

By Sam Prance

More details about the plot of the scrapped Lizzie McGuire reboot have now emerged.

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Lizzie McGuire writer Jonathan Hurwitz has revealed exactly what scenes ended up getting the reboot cancelled by Disney+.

Back in 2019, all our prayers were answered when Disney+ announced that Lizzie McGuire would be returning with a reboot starring Hilary Duff and the original cast. They even shot the first two episodes. However, Disney+ then cancelled the reboot over concerns that it was "too adult" and Hilary said that they would be doing a "disservice" to Lizzie by making it PG.

Since then, Hilary has opened up about the premise of the reboot. She told Cosmopolitan: "My character was moving back home with her parents because she caught her soon-to-be fiancé cheating on her. She was falling flat on her face - being like, 'I need to pivot because everything that I thought was wasn't, and I'm turning 30. What the fuck?'"

What else was planned for Lizzie though? Now one of the writers has explained exactly what was going to happen in depth.

Lizzie McGuire writer reveals adult scene that caused Disney+ to cancel the reboot. Picture: Disney Channel/Ali Goldstein, Disney Channel

Taking to TikTok (Jan 17), Jonathan Hurwitz discussed the plot of the first three episodes of the Lizzie McGuire reboot.

Expanding on what Hilary revealed previously, Jonathan said: "Basically, it starts in New York. Lizzie has been working and living there as an interior designer and she's dating this very, very handsome chef."

He's cheating on Lizzie with her best friend though, so Lizzie goes back to "her childhood bedroom where little animated Lizzie has been waiting for her."

As to whether or not Lizzie and Gordo were endgame, Jonathan added: "You would have got an answer."

He then explained: "Lizzie meets up with Gordo [in episode 2] — who she's just kind of been in touch with via text over the years occasionally — and they meet up and Gordo reveals that he is engaged to a woman and she's pregnant and they're really happy. So no, in this version, Lizzie and Gordo wouldn’t have ended up together."

Jonathan then divulged that episode 3 is where Disney+ really clashed with the direction of the show.

Jonathan said: "Episode 2 ends with Lizzie getting a text from Ethan Craft — and little animated Lizzie faints." In episode 3, "Lizzie wakes up in Ethan’s bed in his water polo t-shirt." Animated Lizzie then appears and checks Ethan off of her to-do list: "I think she says something like, 'Well, check that box.' Dramatic pause, 'Twice!'"

When asked about storylines that Disney wasn’t "comfortable" with, Jonathan said: “That moment was probably one of them." He also explained that Lizzie had a gay roommate and they had to cut explicit language from episode two.

As it stands, there's no further word on the Lizzie reboot but Hilary told Andy Cohen in 2023, that she would still love to do it, and was "optimistic" that it could still happen. She explained that "Disney+ was very new" and they were still "figuring out" their limits as a brand.

Petition for Disney+ to revisit this because we NEED to see it.