'Let us move': Hilary Duff's plea to Disney amid Lizzie McGuire reboot drama

Hilary Duff has issued a heartfelt plea to entertainment giant Disney amid the ongoing drama surrounding the much-anticipated reboot of iconic TV series, Lizzie McGuire, which was put on hold earlier this year.

The star - who plays titular character Lizzie - took to Instagram on Saturday to take aim at Disney+, the streaming platform behind the project, which reportedly halted filming in January over concerns it wasn’t ‘family-friendly’.

“Was incredibly excited to launch ‘Lizzie’ on D+ and my passion remains,” she wrote of the reboot, which was announced to much fanfare in October 2019.

Hilary to Disney: ‘Let Lizzie move’

The 32-year-old went on to say it would be a ‘disservice’ to fans to ‘limit’ the show to a PG audience and urged Disney to pass it over to another streaming platform, Hulu.

“However, I feel a huge responsibility to honor 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.”

“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.”

Hulu is owned by The Walt Disney Company and produces more mature content such as The Handmaids Tale, Shrill and Marvel's Runaways.

Fans outraged

Hilary’s fans were supportive of her strong message, taking to the comments section to share their praise and encouragement while slamming Disney.

“Yasssss!! Raise your voice, girl!!” wrote one.

“@disney @disneyplus you just ruined every 20-30-year-olds reason for having Disney+,” said another.

“Disney+ has all the Marvel movies but can’t let Lizzie grow up,” lamented one.

Some commenters, however, disagreed with Hilary’s stance and argued that the Lizzie McGuire reimagining should stay true to its roots like other Disney Channel reboots.

“You already have an adult show in Younger (which I love) but I watch that alone,” they wrote.

“I was so excited to show my kids the old Lizzy show and then the new one. You could have done it. That’s So Raven did and Girl Meets World,” they added.

Lizzie McGuire on hold, creator ‘fired’

Earlier this week Hilary made a subtle dig at Disney on Instagram by posting a screenshot of a news article about the decision to rename the upcoming Disney+ series Love, Simon to Love, Victor and move it to Hulu.

She had circled the words ‘family-friendly’ in the article headline and wrote above it, “Sounds familiar.”

Just days later it was revealed that the creator of the original Lizzie McGuire series, Terri Minsky, was fired from the reboot because Disney+ wanted a ‘family-friendly program’.

When Terri abruptly left the project in mid-January while Hilary was on her honeymoon it was rumoured that she’d quit for undisclosed reasons, placing production on hold.

“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,” a Disney spokesperson told Variety at the time.

Now, sources have told the outlet that Terri was shown the door after the broadcaster decided to keep things family-friendly, despite previously signing off on the creator's pitch to create an ‘adult’ version of the teen classic.

Terri told Variety that she’s still ‘proud’ of the two episodes that they got to film and echoes Hilary’s request to relocate the project to Hulu.

Network bosses have yet to announce a replacement but hope to ‘resume production’ soon.

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