Hilary Duff is voicing her frustration after the Disney+ reboot of “Lizzie McGuire” has been stalled.
The former child star implied the family-friendly subscription service placed too many limitations on her iconic preteen character, who, in the reboot, would be in her thirties.
Duff hinted that Disney+ does not share the same vision she has for the adored character and asked for the show to be moved to Hulu instead.
“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,” Duff wrote in an Instagram post.
Her statement continued: “I’d be doing a disservice to everyone by limiting 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 as 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.”
Duff’s interest in moving the series to Hulu comes after she wrote a rather cryptic comment in response to “Love, Simon” recently being pulled from Disney+ and moved to the streaming service.
According to Variety, citing sources, Disney felt that many topics explored on the series, including alcohol use and sexual exploration, would not fit in with the platform’s content.
The 32-year-old actress took to her Instagram Story to share a screenshot from a headline reporting the series’ migration over to Hulu, with the comment, “Sounds familiar.”
“Love, Simon” was rebranded and will be titled “Love, Victor” when the 10-episode series debuts on Hulu in June, according to Variety.
Production for the “Lizzie” reboot had its production shelved last month after the original show creator, Terry Minsky, left the project after two episodes had been filmed.
“Fans have a sentimental attachment to ‘Lizzie McGuire’ and high expectations for a new series,” a Disney spokesperson told Variety at the time. “After filming two episodes, we concluded that we need to move in a different creative direction and are putting a new lens on the show.”
“Lizzie McGuire” was announced in August 2019 and production commenced in October. Duff shared a photo from the set with her on-screen family and holding the script.
The rebooted version of the sitcom was reportedly set to include the familiar animated version of a young Lizzie offering up comedic, revealing commentary on what 30-year-old Lizzie is thinking.
Fox News’ Julius Young contributed to this report.
