The “Lizzie McGuire” reboot definitely wasn’t made for kids — something we’re learning about in much greater detail … now that one of its writers is spilling the beans.
Jonathan Hurwitz — who was working on the show for Disney at the time — took to TikTok to explain the content they were creating, which ended up causing issues with Disney due to the mature nature of the plot points. Essentially, he mentioned that they were crafting storylines about a 30-year-old woman partaking in adult activities that weren’t always suitable for a general audience.
TikTok / @jonathanhurwitz
He highlighted some of the plotlines they were developing for the show’s comeback season, including Hilary Duff portraying an adult Lizzie residing in New York City and working as an interior designer while being romantically involved with her attractive chef boyfriend, who would eventually cheat on her with her best friend.
In an episode script that was ultimately scrapped, it was intended for Lizzie to return to California and reconnect with Gordo, who, to her surprise, had shocking news for her – he was engaged and expecting a baby!
According to Jonathan, an aspect of the storyline involving Lizzie engaging in a physical relationship with her former high school crush, Ethan, particularly stirred controversy as it is implied that they spent the night together, a narrative that did not align with Disney’s family-friendly image.
Prior to its cancellation, two episodes had already been filmed before Disney+ decided to pull the plug due to creative discrepancies between the platform and Hilary Duff, resulting in a highly dramatic turn of events.
Hilary announced the decision on Instagram in January 2020, expressing her desire for the reboot to authentically depict Lizzie’s current persona. She emphasized that deviating from this direction would not do justice to the character. It appears that Jonathan supports Hilary’s stance, noting that Disney was not receptive to the proposed direction.
Naturally, it’s disappointing that the adult depiction of Lizzie did not materialize as intended. Additionally, it is disheartening to learn that Gordo’s relationship with Lizzie did not transpire in the manner many fans had hoped for, after all these years.
What might have been…