Hilary Duff on Why Disney+’s ‘Lizzie McGuire’ Reboot Was Scrapped: “They Got Spooked”

Hilary Duff is further opening up about the decision to scrap the Lizzie McGuire reboot on Disney+.

In a recent interview with Women’s Health, Duff explained she insisted to the streamer that the revival of the classic Disney Channel show feature a more mature Lizzie, without having to be too mature.

“She had to be 30 years old doing 30-year-old things,” Duff told the magazine. “She didn’t need to be doing bong rips and having one-night stands all the time, but it had to be authentic. I think they got spooked.”

Duff announced the reboot was no longer moving forward in December 2020, a little over a year after the project had been announced. In the new series, Duff was going to play a grown-up version of her character and star alongside much of the original cast, with Adam Lamberg, Hallie Todd, Robert Carradine and Jake Thomas all set to reprise their roles.

Shortly after wrapping Younger, Duff returned to her home base of Southern California and was quickly offered the lead role in How I Met Your Father, she previously told The Hollywood Reporter. 

“I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, I can’t do that,’” Duff recalled. “‘I’ve been down the reboot kind of lane, and tried. And I don’t think I can hold up to that.’ And they’re like, ‘No, it’s not like a reboot in that sense.’”

When the Lizzie McGuire revival fell through, it gave Duff the chance to sign on to HIMYF, in which she plays Sophie. The story follows Sophie’s relatable character and her close-knit group of friends who are in the midst of figuring out who they are and how to fall in love in the age of dating apps and limitless options.

Duff sees how people could draw parallels between Sophie and a 30-year-old Lizzie McGuire.

“It would be dumb of me to not know that I have a sweet spot playing that relatable girl. I am that girl,” Duff told Women’s Health. “It was a conscious choice not to be angsty and try to shift people’s opinions on who I am. That doesn’t mean I didn’t want to try.”