Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Jonathan Hurwitz also shares what storyline from the scrapped Hilary Duff-led series he believes Disney “wasn’t comfortable with.”
By Carly Thomas
Associate Editor
Though the Lizzie McGuire reboot never made it to air, writer Jonathan Hurwitz is opening up about what storylines fans could have expected in the first few episodes.
The show, which was set to follow a grown-up version of Hilary Duff‘s character from the 2001-04 Disney Channel series, was canceled in 2020 due to creative differences between Duff and Disney+ executives.
In a recent TikTok video, Hurwitz said they wrote and filmed the first two episodes of the Disney+ series, and that the third episode was also written.
“Basically, it starts in New York,” Hurwitz details of the first episode’s plot. “Lizzie’s been working and living there as an interior designer, and she’s dating this very, very handsome chef. And she ends up finding that he’s been cheating on her with her best friend.”
That’s when she goes back to her childhood home in California from the original series, where animated Lizzie has been there waiting for her, Hurwitz continued.
As for episode two, Hurwitz said Lizzie reconnects with her old best friend Gordo (Adam Lamberg). He also revealed if the duo were “end game,” after being asked by fans.
“You would have got an answer to that in episode two,” the writer explained. “Lizzie meets up with Gordo, who she’s just kind of been in touch with via text over the years, occasionally. And they meet up, and Gordo reveals that he is engaged, engaged to a woman, and she’s pregnant and they’re really happy. So no, in this version, Lizzie and Gordo would not have ended up together.”
Hurwitz added that the second episode ended with Lizzie getting a message from her childhood crush, Ethan Craft, which led into the third episode’s storyline that never got filmed. He also noted that he believes Disney had some issues with what happened in episode three.
“Episode three wasn’t filmed, but there was a script for it,” Hurwitz said. “Lizzie wakes up in Ethan’s bed, in his water polo T-shirt. Animated Lizzie pops up and she has this little checklist, like a to-do list, and Ethan is on the list and she checks it off.”
He continued, “I think she says something like, ‘checked that box — dramatic pause — twice.’ So if I had to guess, I saw another comment about certain storylines [on] why Disney wasn’t comfortable with it, my guess was … that moment was probably one of them.”
However, Hurwitz clarified in a follow-up video that the episode wouldn’t have included a sex scene.
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Disney for comment.
Replying to @kujorg Consider the ☕️ spilled 🤭 #lizziemcguire #lizziemcguirereboot #hilaryduff #arianagrande #bangs #greenscreen
In 2020, Duff announced that the Lizzie McGuire revival at Disney+ wasn’t going forward, writing at the time, “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.”
Disney also said in a statement, “Lizzie McGuire fans have high expectations for any new stories. Unless and until we are confident we can meet those expectations, we’ve decided to hold off and today, we informed the cast’s representatives that we are not moving forward with the planned series.”
A few years later, Duff opened up in a Women’s Health interview about the decision to scrap the reboot, saying she told the streamer she wanted the new series to feature a more mature Lizzie.
“She had to be 30 years old doing 30-year-old things,” Duff explained to 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.”
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.