This is truly what dreams are made of!
Hilary Duff is returning as Lizzie McGuire in a sequel of the popular Disney Channel series, set to stream on Disney+. This time, Lizzie is a 30 year-old millennial navigating life in New York City, and the show’s original creator Terri Minsky is set to executive produce and serve as showrunner. The series originally ran on Disney Channel from 2001 to 2004, and its finale played out in a spectacularly nonsensical and incredible movie that somehow aired in the middle of the series.
The sequel news was announced by Duff herself at the Disney+ showcase currently going down at Disney’s D23 expo in Anaheim, California, and the only other detail we’ve gotten so far is that animated Lizzie will still be hanging around, driving Lizzie crazy. Lizzie works as an apprentice to a fancy New York City decorator and is dating a guy who owns a fancy restaurant, and she’s about to celebrate her 30th birthday.
“She was there for everyone in their pre-teens,” Duff told E! News at D23. “She was their best friend, and I would love to try to embody that for her in her 30s and going through those challenges.”
Before you ask, there’s no word yet on whether or not Duff will be joined by Adam Lamberg (Gordo), Lalaine (Miranda), Jake Thomas (Matt), or Hallie Todd and Robert Carradine, who played Lizzie’s parents. We also know nothing about the status of Ethan Craft (Clayton Snyder) or Kate Sanders (Ashlie Brillault), but just so everyone at Disney+ knows, we would not be mad if Lizzie’s entire middle school class just happened to follow her to New York.
Do you think she’s a singer now? Do you think she ever saw Paolo and Isabella again? Hopefully we’ll get our answers!
Duff headed to Instagram to share the news and even recorded an Instagram story to talk about how much she missed the character.
“I think now is a great time for her to come back in her 30s,” she said. “She’s everybody’s best friend, and I can’t wait to go on this next chapter with her and I hope everyone is as excited as I am.”
Rumors of a potential Lizzie revival have been spoken of before, with Duff telling E! News’ Erin Lim in December that there had been “a little bit of conversation” but she thought it was “very far into the distance.”
Turns out it wasn’t actually that far!
Disney+ will launch on November 12 with the debuts of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series and The Mandolorian. There’s currently no premiere date for Lizzie McGuire available, but we’ll let you know when there is.