LOS ANGELES — Hilary Duff is asking Disney to find a TV home that’s more appropriate to the grown-up “Lizzie McGuire.”
In an Instagram post, the actress who’s reprising the title character for Disney Plus, said the streaming service isn’t the best fit, suggesting Hulu instead. The original series, about a girl whose thoughts are expressed by her animated doppelganger, aired from 2001 to 2004 on the Disney Channel.
“Was incredibly excited to launch `Lizzie’ on D+ and my passion remains,” Duff said in her post Friday. “However, I feel a huge responsibility to honour the fans’ relationship with Lizzie who, like me, grew up seeing themselves in her. 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.”
The original series was an authentic portrayal of Lizzie as a preteen and teenager, Duff said, and her next chapters should be “as real and relatable.”
Production on the reboot was suspended in January after the exit of showrunner and original series creator Terri Minsky, trade publication Variety has reported.
“We paused production on `Lizzie McGuire’ a few weeks ago to allow time for some creative re-development,” Disney said in a statement provided Saturday. “Our goal is to resume production and to tell an authentic story that connects to the millions who are emotionally invested in the character, and a new generation of viewers too.”
In an earlier Instagram post, Duff hinted at the Hulu streaming channel that’s under the Disney company umbrella as an alternative to the family friendly Disney Plus. Her post last Tuesday highlighted a news report about the Disney Plus series “Love, Victor,” inspired by the coming-of-age movie “Love, Simon,” that’s moving to Hulu.
Duff made a stronger pitch Friday, posting, “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.”
Minsky told Variety that she was proud of the two episodes that had been done before production was halted and said she favoured a move to Hulu and “doing the show that we were doing.”