Hilary Duff Reveals Which 'Lizzie McGuire' Character Won't Appear In The Reboot

For the average person, being whisked away on a Vespa by a hot Italian singer and then singing iconic anthem "What Dreams Are Made Of" at the Roman Colosseum would be the peak of life. But Lizzie McGuire, who (fictionally) lived that dream, apparently prefers not to relive it. Hilary Duff doesn't think Paolo will be on the Lizzie McGuire reboot. So it looks like he won't be singing to Lizzie (or Isabella) anytime soon.

Duff recently revealed that some of the show's classic characters were set to appear on the new series, in addition to cameos fans already knew about like the return of Gordo and Lizzie's family. However, the actor doesn't think that Lizzie would respond that well to Paolo showing up out of nowhere. "There were plans for a lot of people to be in the show," she explained in an interview with Cosmopolitan. "I already know some of those things but I don’t know about Paolo. I think she'd probably be pretty mad to see him."

However, the possibility of anyone being in the reboot, including Lizzie herself, is still up in the air. In January 2020, the show suddenly halted production and fired showrunner Terri Minsky, the creator of the original series, after filming two episodes. In a statement, Disney+ said they were going in a "different creative direction" and "putting a new lens on the series."

The following month, Duff made comments that led people to believe that Disney+ stopped production because of the show's mature themes. She later took to social media and pleaded with Disney+ to move the reboot to Hulu so they can create the show that she and Minsky had envisioned. "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," she wrote.

Duff told Cosmopolitan that the status of the reboot is still up in the air. "I'm still talking to [the team] weekly, I don't know," she said. "They were shooting and then everything was put on hold. And we're just kind of figuring out if we can make this happen." However, things are also looking up. The show's writers had a virtual meeting recently with Minsky herself. And Duff told PEOPLE last week that talks about the show were getting better.

"There’s still conversations going on in hopes that we can find a way to meet in the middle and both bend a little bit," she revealed, saying that she understands Disney+ has to protect their brand. "I just have to make sure it’s the right move for me and that I feel like I’m honoring her and the character, and that it will be relatable to the people who grew up with her because those are the people I really want to speak to.”

At least Duff is fighting to give us the Lizzie McGuire reboot that dreams are made of, even if we've seen the last of Paolo.