Watch: Lizzie McGuire Writer REVEALS Dramatic Plot of Canceled RebootKnowing that someone's wrong for you doesn't change the way you feel. And knowing that this was what would have happened in the highly anticipated but ultimately scrapped Lizzie McGuire reboot only makes us feel worse. Because years after the series was canceled before it even took off, we finally learned the NSFW plot that would have unfolded for Hilary Duff's titular character. Now in her 30s and living in NYC, "Lizzie's been working and living there as an interior designer, and she's dating this very, very handsome chef," writer Jonathan Hurwitz explained in a 2024 TikTok. "And she ends up finding that he's been cheating on her with her best friend." And while it's not her childhood BFF Miranda (Lalaine), she still decides to return home to California, where she reunites with her animated self and Gordo (Adam Lamberg), who she finally kissed at the end of 2003's The Lizzie McGuire Movie.photosHilary Duff's Best RolesIn episode two, Jonathan explained, "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." Which is likely for the best, Hilary acknowledged. Following that cinematic kiss, "I don't think they had a thing post, I think they had maybe an almost-thing post," Hilary admitted on Jake Shane's Therapuss podcast last November. "Another swing at it that didn't... devastating right?" Shutterstock Which brings us to her childhood crush Ethan Craft (Clayton Snyder). In the second episode of the reboot, which was never filmed, "Lizzie wakes up in Ethan's bed in his water polo T-shirt," Jonathan revealed in the clip. "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.' Dramatic pause. 'Twice.'" Have you ever seen such a beautiful night plot twist? So while we mourn what almost was, let's take a trip down memory lane and relive what we did get by celebrating the 25th(!!) anniversary of the series premiere Jan. 12 with these 21 secrets from the OG show...

Disney Channel1. The show's original title was What's Lizzie Thinking? And when it was initially pitched to Disney, it didn't have the now-infamous animated Lizzie voiceover, but just a standard voiceover from star Hilary Duff. 2. Some of the other actresses who went out for the role of Lizzie included Lindsay Lohan (Duff's future rival thanks to their love triangle with Aaron Carter), Sarah Paxton and Hailee Hirsh. Though Duff emerged as the winner, producer Stan Rogow once told E! News that all their options were "terrific" and had them "excited about presenting to the network as [options for Lizzie]." 3. In an interview with E! News, Duff confessed she did "a terrible job" in her audition: "I hadn't read my lines." Close to quitting acting before landing her breakout role, she didn't take the audition too seriously, but the show's creator Terri Minsky saw potential in the young actress and reached out to her. "I was very honest about it and said, 'You need to get more in the character,'" Minsky recounted to E!. "Because I knew there was so much [talent] there."Disney Channel/Entertainment Pictures via ZUMA Press4. One of the reasons Duff may have ultimately landed the job was her sense of style, with Disney's former president of entertainment Rich Ross telling Newsweek, "When we were casting Lizzie McGuire we called her in four times. She wasn't doing anything wrong. She just wore such great outfits, and we wanted to see what she'd come in with next." Duff later revealed she used her clothes as a way to make herself stand out from the hundreds of others auditioning. 5. A reminder that Lizzie aired on Disney Channel: The network initially pushed back when the writers wanted to do an episode about Lizzie buying her first bra. Network executives "said, 'Oh my god, you can't do that!'" Rogow recalled to E!. "It was little bit groundbreaking at the time." 6. Of course, that's one of the most memorable episodes for Duff. "I definitely think that the bra episode is one that stands out in my brain as being, like, first of all, really wanting it, 'cause I thought a bra was cool," she told TODAY, "and then second of all, being like, 'How am I gonna get that? I have to talk to my parents about that. That's gonna be the worst thing ever.'"Disney Channel7. While he became Lizzie's longtime crush, Ethan (Clayton Snyder) was initially conceived as your typical middle school jock. In fact, writer Nina Bargiel once revealed Danny Kessler (played by Byron Fox) was supposed to be The Guy. "There was another dreamy boy that she was supposed to be interested in, but I think he wasn't available," she told the Feminist Disney Tumblr account. "So we needed someone new and Ethan was already there, so we just built him up." 8. But while Lizzie was pining