10 Facts About Disney’s Lizzie McGuire You Need To Know Before The Reboot
If you were a kid in the early 2000s, then get ready, because a piece of your childhood is coming back! On August 23rd, Hilary Duff announced the return of Lizzie McGuire—only this time, Lizzie will be a 30-year-old woman conquering New York City. The series is set to be released onto Disney Plus; a new Disney streaming service that is set to launch soon in the U.S., Canada, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, and more. Disney Plus will host all of Disney’s original shows and movies, so get ready to celebrate the Lizzie McGuire reboot. Here are ten facts about Disney’s Lizzie McGuire that you need to know before the reboot.
1. Hilary Duff and Aaron Carter
This is what breaking news looked like back in the day. In 2001, Hilary Duff began dating singer, Aaron Carter, who later guest-starred on the series. At the time, Duff and Carter’s relationship received heavy attention from the media and things spiraled out of control when Lindsey Lohan got involved. After dating on-again and off-again for years, the couple eventually went their separate ways. Aaron Carter has publicly stated that he is still not over Hilary Duff and describes her as the one that got away.
2. The Casting of Lizzie McGuire
I know you don’t want to imagine a world where Hilary Duff wasn’t Lizzie McGuire, but that almost happened. Originally, Sara Paxton and Lindsey Lohan were in the running for the role of Lizzie, but things took a turn for the better when Hilary Duff auditioned for the show. Hilary credits her wardrobe as to why she landed the role because the actual audition wasn’t that pretty. At first, Hilary didn’t even want to play Lizzie, because she didn’t want to get her start on Disney, but luckily she changed her mind.
3. The Show’s Title
Every show goes through this in the early stages, so we’re not surprised that it happened to Lizzie McGuire. I honestly can’t imagine this show being called anything else, but it was originally going to be called What’s Lizzie Thinking… I don’t think that would have caught on.
4. Lizzie
Do you know Lizzie’s full name, because I didn’t…? I guess that I’m just so used to her nickname that I forgot that she had a real name. Lizzie’s full name is Elizabeth Brooke McGuire and the real shocker is that her full name wasn’t revealed to the audience until season two. The original plot of the show was going to revolve around Lizzie’s relationship with her mother, but actress Hallie Todd, who played Lizzie’s mother couldn’t actively be on set, so they had to go in a different direction. Producers of the show wanted to add in voice-overs so that Lizzie could relay her real feelings to the audience, but it was decided that a cartoon Lizzie would be the most entertaining.
5. Ethan Craft
Every girl had a crush on Ethan Craft in the early 2000s, and I know that I was definitely one of them. You know Ethan Craft as Lizzie’s love interest and muse in the show, but did you know that his character was originally going to be a school bully? I honestly can’t imagine Ethan as a bully, so I’m glad they didn’t go in that direction.
6. Miranda
You know her, you love her, and you probably miss her! Miranda was Lizzie’s best friend in the show, aside from Gordo; she had a spunky personality and was often getting into trouble with Lizzie and Gordo. Unfortunately, Lalaine didn’t appear in The Lizzie McGuire Movie or in the last six episodes of the series because, at the time, she was working on another Disney movie called You Wish. Lalaine was set to reprise her role as Miranda in the spin-off series What’s Stevie Thinking, and they even shot the pilot, but the show was never picked up. We definitely hope to see Miranda in the reboot!
7. Spin-off
According to IMDb, there was initially going to be a spin-off of Lizzie McGuire, called What Was Stevie Thinking. The spin-off would have followed Miranda’s family as they moved to Australia, and the star of the show would have been Miranda’s little sister, Stevie. Selena Gomez was cast as Stevie in the spin-off series, but the show never made it to the production stage.
8. Gordo
You know him by his nickname, Gordo, but his full name is actually David Zephyr Gordon. Gordo has been friends with Lizzie since they were babies, but their relationship changes when Gordo falls for Lizzie. The actor behind Gordo, Adam Lamberg, was actually three years older than Hilary Duff. As seen in Lizzie McGuire, Gordo is Jewish, but so is Adam Lamberg in real life. We still ship the Lizzie and Gordo union!
9. The Lizzie McGuire Franchise
In 2003, production plans were made for a second Lizzie McGuire movie and a sequel series that revolved around Lizzie in high school, but sadly it never happened because Hilary Duff wanted a pay raise. It’s a shame that this didn’t work out, because, if they actually went through with this, the Lizzie McGuire franchise could have been huge.
10. The Bra Episode
This was the most iconic episode in the series because it was so relate-able. Initially, Disney Channel executives were skeptical of letting the show release such a personal episode, because it hadn’t been done before. Ironically, Hilary Duff could relate to the episode, because it was something that she was experiencing in real life. I think this episode really paved the way for other shows at the time because people were so afraid of talking about the subject before this.
