Jake Thomas Reveals Why the ‘Lizzie McGuire’ Reboot ‘Fell Apart’ (Exclusive)

Jake Thomas is still holding out hope that Lizzie McGuire will make a return.

In 2019, fans were excited to learn that Disney+ was working on a reboot of the beloved series, but it was canceled the following year. Now, the 35-year-old actor is telling PEOPLE what went on behind the scenes that led to the project being halted and shares his take on reviving his role as Matt McGuire.

“I had heard rumblings for many years that they were trying to put something together, whether it was another movie or a series or something, but none of those rumors really ever held weight to me,” Thomas recalls. “Then suddenly, it just came together very quickly. And we filmed two episodes at the end of 2019, and unfortunately when we came back January-ish, things had started to fall apart.”

“Then 2020 happened and it was the wrong time, it was the wrong circumstances,” he continues, referring to the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I feel like sometimes it just kind of works out that way. That’s Hollywood. That’s the way I’ve always phrased it. It’s disappointing, but I was really looking forward to people getting to see the characters again. It was really exciting.”

Thomas explains what he thinks the future holds for Lizzie McGuire fans.

While he’s keeping mum on what occurred in those two episodes, Thomas teases that viewers were going to see their “favorite characters” from childhood as they navigated “adult issues.” 

“Whether or not it will be revisited again in the future, it’s very hard to say,” he admits. “I still stay very optimistic about it just because we went from the end of the original series in the movie to the reboot happening, and we had something like 17 years in between.”

He adds: “I still think that the show holds such a very special cultural value to a millennial audience, and there’s definitely a hunger for that audience to see what their favorite characters are up to these days and how they’ve adapted to this world. Because they were dealing with the same issues as us as a kid, and it would be very interesting to see their millennial take on it today.”

Plus, he knows Lizzie McGuire’s legacy has lived on through social media, which he says shows “there definitely is” still interest in it.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

The public saw a glimpse of the project before it stopped production.

A brief look at the spinoff was released before news of its hiatus in 2020, when Disney+ shared clips of its upcoming shows. The following week, the original series creator announced her exit as showrunner.

“Fans have a sentimental attachment to Lizzie McGuire and high expectations for a new series,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement to PEOPLE at the time. “After filming two episodes, we concluded that we need to move in a different creative direction and are putting a new lens on the series.”

Less than a year later, the reboot was canceled.

Hilary Duff has said that a reboot is still in the cards.

Hilary Duff, who starred as the titular character both in the show’s two-season run from 2001 to 2004 and the 2003 theatrical film, has previously opened up the future of the franchise after the revival’s cancellation. 

“I think there’s always a possibility there,” she said in a 2022 episode of The Cut‘s In Her Shoes podcast. “And even if she’s 40, I don’t think people care. It’s always going to be somewhat interesting to people to see where she ended up.”