The "Lizzie McGuire" Reboot Is Officially Cancelled and My Heart Is Breaking

They fooled us with their picture perfect plan.

After months of planning, anticipation and negotiations, Hilary Duff confirmed this morning that the Lizzie McGuire reboot (which was supposed to save us from 2020) has officially been canned.

In an announcement made on Instagram, the Younger star revealed that "despite everyone’s best efforts, it isn’t going to happen."

Hilary—most known for her role as Lizzie on the Disney Channel series from 2001 to 2004—broke the news of a reboot to fans last year (after much speculation in 2018).

The new show was set to premiere on Disney+ with several original stars slated to join Hilary in 2020, including her on-screen fam; Jake Thomas (Matt McGuire), Hallie Todd (Jo McGuire), Robert Carradine (Sam McGuire) and Lizzie’s friend/love interest Adam Lamberg (David “Gordo” Gordon).

Fans were over the moon at the announcement for the reboot and the reintroduction of original cast members. With the new series supposedly planned to focus on Lizzie getting ready for her big three oh, fans couldn’t get enough.

While production for the show started in 2019, things quickly came to a halt as negotiations for the show fell apart.

Earlier in the year, the original creator of the show and the reboot’s showrunner Terri Minsky stepped off the set due to 'creative differences'.

Shortly after, in January, the show’s production was put on hold after filming just two episodes.

That was not what dreams are made of.

nobody speak to me i'm in mourning #LizzieMcGuire pic.twitter.com/UQ0lRcFpsH

— Cole Delbyck (@coledelbyck) December 16, 2020

The official explanation at the time was that the show needed to move in a different creative direction, and now with the news of the show’s cancellation, things are a little clearer.

We did get some insight back in February when Hilary threw a little bit of shade at Disney+ explaining that another Disney+ series Love, Simon (now called Love, Victor) had been moved to Hulu after Disney+ had concerns that it wasn’t 'family-friendly' enough.

In Hilary’s tweet from this morning, the actress confirmed that there was hesitancy to explore a more mature version of Lizzie and there was no way to come to an agreement, so the show had to end.

"I want any reboot of Lizzie to be honest and authentic to who Lizzie would be today. It’s what the character deserves," she said.

"I’ve been so honoured to have the character of Lizzie in my life. She has made such a lasting impact on many, including myself.

"To see the fans' loyalty and love for her, to this day, means so much to me. I know the efforts and conversations have been everywhere trying to make a reboot work but, sadly and despite everyone’s best efforts, it isn’t going to happen."

Many fans argued that the Lizzie McGuire reboot should follow in the footsteps of Love, Victor and instead land on Hulu, but from the looks of things, it just wasn’t meant to be.

I want a statement from @disneyplus @Disney as to why they cancelled the #LizzieMcGuire reboot and why they didn't give it to Hulu! The fans demand that at the very least. This reboot would've been awesome and gotten a lot of viewers. Disney missed out on a great opportunity here

— Nishty ☕️ (@TaraPersad) December 16, 2020

"We can all take a moment to mourn the amazing woman she would have been and the adventures we would have taken with her," Hilary said.

"I’m very sad, but I promise everyone tried their best and the stars just didn’t align. Hey now, this is what 2020’s made of."

Of course, with the pandemic putting a stop to the production of many other exciting films and TV shows this year, it is possible that safety concerns and restrictions played a role in disrupting the continuation of the new series.

However, due to Hilary’s comments, it seems that creative differences are getting the blame for this one.

While our dreams of a Lizzie reboot have been crushed, the original series and the iconic movie are finally on Disney+, so you can binge them there (that’s if you’re not too mad with them).

And for any poor souls who missed the OG series, this one's for you:

Header Image: Hillary Duff (Instagram)