Lizzie McGuire creator Terri Minsky wants the show to depart Disney+ and find a new home at Hulu so she can pursue her original vision.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that a TV series loosely based on the 2018 LGBTQ coming-of-age movie Love, Simon had been dropped by Disney+ and picked up by bosses at video-on-demand service Hulu, which is controlled by Disney, with sources suggesting it wasn't "family friendly" enough.
Lizzie McGuire star Hilary Duff subsequently seemed to hint that a similar issue was the reason behind the production delay with the revival of her Disney Channel show. She posted a screenshot on social media of a headline reading, "Love, Simon TV Show Pulled From Disney+ as It's Not 'Family-Friendly'," and wrote: "Sounds familiar..."
On Wednesday, Minsky, the original series creator of Lizzie McGuire and showrunner of the revival, opened up about being fired from the show after filming two episodes and confirmed that her and Duff wanted to pursue a different direction to Disney executives.
"I am so proud of the two episodes we did," Minsky told Variety. "Hilary has a grasp of Lizzie McGuire at 30 that needs to be seen. It's a wonderful thing to watch. I would love the show to exist, but ideally I would love it if it could be given that treatment of going to Hulu and doing the show that we were doing. That's the part where I am completely in the dark. It's important to me that this show was important to people. I felt like I wanted to do a show that was worthy of that kind of devotion."
Sources told the publication that Minsky and Duff wanted a more adult version of Lizzie for the revival, whereas Disney wanted a show aimed at children and families, like the original.
A representative for Disney issued a statement to Variety insisting that the show has not been scrapped despite being on hold since January.
"We paused production on Lizzie McGuire a few weeks ago to allow time for some creative re-development," they said. "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."
