Still Bitter About the Canceled ‘Lizzie McGuire’ Reboot? So Are We

We love TV. We love films. It’s why we’re ultimately here, isn’t it? Yet what we don’t want are the kind of reboots we didn’t ask for. Why ruin something as perfect as Suits when it gave us nine glorious seasons of excellent TV? What on earth is the point of a Wizards of Waverly Place revival when we have movies that end the series with a neat little bow? You know what we did want, though? We wanted the Lizzie McGuire reboot, yet Hulu and Disney took that away while also taking the next best thing for Hilary Duff fans by canceling How I Met Your Father. 

Disney’s Lizzie McGuire aired at a time when the studio had a sixty-five-episode rule. We later got the movie’s theatrical release, sure, but it still left a lot out in the open. For many millennials, Duff’s quirky, awkward heroine was everything to us. We grew up with her. We went through a lot of the same battles she did simultaneously. Thus, when the network announced that we’d see her again, it actually felt right because there’s groundwork there for excellent, more relatable stories. 

Raise your hand if you’re also in your thirties and riding the struggle bus. I’m going to assume quite a few of you raised your hands. Still, for various reasons (one of them being maturity levels), Hulu canceled the Lizzie McGuire reboot and left us with scraps. Today, a film like Academy Award Nominee Poor Things is on Hulu. So…uh, which is it? 

Further, the film’s ending made it seem like Lizzie and Gordo were endgame, but looking back at the series, much of that relationship was glaring with red flags. (See “The Problem With the Childhood Best Friends to Lovers Trope.”) However, in a TikTok video, writer Jonathan Hurwitz revealed a few plot details about what would’ve happened if the series had gone forward. [Spoiler alert: they wouldn’t have been endgame, but she does sleep with Ethan Craft, so there’s much to unpack there, too.]

Whatever the series could’ve or would’ve done, with Hilary Duff back with her animated alter ego, the possibilities were truly endless in a way that could’ve resulted in necessary storytelling. Hocus Pocus 2 felt just as earned as Hocus Pocus. Where there’s meat left to cook still, executives should allow the stories to marinate. Where there isn’t, we should let them be. In the case of the Lizzie McGuire reboot, it might never stop feeling like a heartbreaking missed opportunity.

At the same time, in many of our How I Met Your Father reviews, I’d mentioned that Sophie Tompkins feels like what we could’ve had with Lizzie McGuire in her 30s. Duff embodies her with the same warmth and heart, making her struggles deeply relatable. She feels like a friend—someone familiar and there for us. But, of course, that was taken away too. If the show suddenly blew up on Netflix, would we get a second chance? It all comes down to a silly numbers game that remains legitimately frustrating when we’re trying to look for new content to cover that feels refreshing and comforting simultaneously. We wouldn’t be asking for a reboot if the series didn’t have such a limited run, but that was, unfortunately, the case. 

What are your thoughts on the canceled Lizzie McGuire reboot? Let us know in the comments below.
First Featured Image: ©Disney