Getty Images, Courtesy of Jonathan Hurtwitz/ TikTok
‘Lizzie McGuire’ Writer Reveals Plot of Canceled Reboot Including Hookup With Childhood Crush Ethan Craft
Four years after Disney+ scrapped a reboot of Hilary Duff‘s iconic teen series Lizzie McGuire, writer Jonathan Hurwitz told fans what they would have seen with the character’s adult life, including a hookup with her childhood crush, Ethan Craft.
In a Wednesday, January 17, TikTok video, Jonathan – who noted that the first two episodes of the reboot had been filmed before it was canceled – said, “Basically, it starts in New York. Lizzie’s been working and living there as an interior designer, and she’s dating this very, very handsome chef. And she ends up finding that he’s been cheating on her with her best friend.”
The discovery causes Lizzie to flee New York. “She, at the end of the pilot, goes home to California—to the home we all saw in the original show, and she’s in her childhood bedroom where little animated Lizzie has been waiting for her.”
“Someone had commented ‘Are Lizzie and Gordo endgame?'” he continued, referring to the character’s BFF from the original series, played by Adam Lamberg.
“You would have got an answer to that in episode two,” Jonathan told viewers, explaining, “Lizzie meets up with Gordo, who she’s just kind of been in touch with via text over the years, occasionally. And they meet up, and Gordo reveals that he is engaged, engaged to a woman, and she’s pregnant and they’re really happy. So no, in this version, Lizzie and Gordo would not have ended up together.”
“Episode two ends with Lizzie getting a text from Ethan Craft and little animated Lizzie faints,” Jonathan revealed.
Sadly, episode three was never filmed, although Jonathan noted, “There was a script for it.” He shared, “Lizzie wakes up in Ethan’s bed in his water polo T-shirt. And animated Lizzie pops up, and she has this little checklist, like a to-do list. And Ethan is on the list, and she checks it off. And I think she says something like, ‘Well, checked that box,’ followed by a dramatic pause before adding, ‘Twice.'”
“So, I saw another comment about ‘Were there certain storylines as to why maybe Disney wasn’t comfortable [with the reboot],'” the writer continued, adding, “My guess is that’s probably one of them,” even though the characters weren’t seen having sex.
Hilary, 36, played the title role on the Disney Channel hit from 2001 through 2004, including a movie in 2003. She revealed how heartbroken she was that the reboot was scrapped during a 2021 appearance on Good Morning America.
“It was a big disappointment, obviously,” Hilary shared, adding, “I will forever be grateful for the two episodes that we did shoot. It was a really special two weeks of my life.”
In May 2022, Hilary dished on Disney allegedly getting “spooked” by Lizzie’s more mature life.
“She had to be 30 years old doing 30-year-old things,” the actress told Women’s Heath, adding, “She didn’t need to be doing bong rips and having one-night stands all the time, but it had to be authentic. I think they got spooked.”
