Darren Star (Sex and the City, Beverly Hills, 90210), creator of TVLand’s Younger, will have Hilary Duff’s (Lizzie McGuire, A Cinderella Story) character, Kelsey Peters, as the star in a spinoff of the dramatic comedy, Variety confirms. Younger initially focused on the life of recent 40-year old divorcee, Liza Miller, who is played by Sutton Foster (Bunheads, The Angriest Man in Brooklyn).
Still fuming over the end of her marriage, Miller decides to return to the book publishing industry only to realize that searching for a career is difficult when you are almost middle-aged. But once a tattoo artist compliments her on her young appearance, Liza decides to take matters into her own hands and poses as a 26 year old with the help of her bestfriend, Maggie (Debi Mazar: Empire Records, Entourage), who gives her a makeover. Once she lands a job assisting Diana, played by Miriam Shor (Shortbus, Bedazzled), she befriends Kelsey and they navigate their careers and relationships together until Liza tells Kelsey her secret.
According to Variety, Duff was most recently working on a Disney Plus revival of Lizzie McGuire, the 2001 comedy-drama that Duff featured in as a young teen. However, the production of the show was interrupted in January when the creator of the original Disney Channel series, Terri Minsky, was unexpectedly removed from its production after the completion of two episodes. Shortly after, Duff publicly announced on Instagram that Disney should allow the Lizzie McGuire reboot to be streamed on Hulu instead to appeal to the adult audience who grew up with the series.
In her post, she said “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…it would be a dream if Disney would let us move the show to Hulu, if they were interested, and I could bring this beloved character to life again.”
Younger, which is entering its seventh season, was created, written and executive produced by Star. Variety confirms that there is currently no information on the development of the spinoff series. It also has an un-written pilot with no attached network.