Miley Cyrus is returning to her ‘Hannah Montana’ roots. She’s the latest Disney star to come home.

There’s a moment in the Hannah Montana series finale where Miley Cyrus steps into her alter-ego’s glittery, coveted closet one final time. Cyrus — as her onscreen character Miley Stewart, who’s finally chosen a normal life over superstardom — tearfully walks through the space, remembering specific performances as Hannah Montana and what she wore during them: The sequined teal shrug and green tank top for “Just Like You”; the purple, pinstripe coat for “Nobody’s Perfect”; the lace-up leather jacket for “We Got the Party.”

As an apparition of Hannah Montana appears on the steps of the closet, Miley joins her, and the two sit together for a moment. Miley looks over to Hannah and mouths “thank you,” before Hannah disappears, marking the end of her pop star existence.

Dedicated millennial fans weren’t sure if Cyrus would ever put the wig back on and assume her beloved alter ego after the show ended in 2011. Two decades after its premiere, however, Cyrus is dusting off Hannah’s boots and array of stylish skinny scarves for the Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special, and this time around, she’s doing it on her own terms. Rather than cosplay the fictional pop star, Cyrus, as she told Variety, is “merging Hannah and Miley together.”

“I think I created a Miley Cyrus persona to protect myself so I could have the Miley behind closed doors,” she told the outlet. “But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve been able to integrate what I love about all of them into one being.”

But Cyrus wasn’t always keen on being associated with the wig-wearing singer. She wanted to move beyond the confines of teeny-bopper stardom and explore life beyond being a Disney darling, which is exactly what she did during her Bangerz era. She swapped her highlighted Hannah wig and kid-friendly lyrics for a bleached-blonde pixie cut, a perpetually stuck-out tongue and recreational drug use.

“It was really hard for me in 2013. I lost everything during that time in my personal life because of the choices I was making professionally,” she said in 2025, during an episode of Monica Lewinsky’s podcast, “Reclaiming.”

Cyrus had, by this point, effectively eviscerated her carefully crafted, once-hypercontrolled image, with her 2013 VMAs performance during which she twerked on Robin Thicke, serving as the cherry on top of her Disney star demise. Her relationship with Liam Hemsworth, whom she met while filming The Last Song, even disintegrated because of it.

But her rebellion wasn’t rooted in disrespecting her Hannah Montana legacy. It was more so a means of figuring out who she was apart from it all — a discernment that Cyrus even longed for as her alter ego: “I’m a lucky girl/Whose dreams came true/But underneath it all, I’m just like you.” 

“I wasn’t trying to kill Hannah off. I was just progressing,” Cyrus told Variety. “Being recognizable as a teen going through different phases and stages was sometimes awkward, but that’s what helped me relate to the kids watching at home.”

The “One in a Million” singer’s celebratory return to her Hannah Montana roots comes at a time when Hilary Duff, another former Disney star, is also proudly reclaiming her Lizzie McGuire fame. Duff, who was recently announced as Northeastern University’s 2026 commencement speaker amid her pop music comeback, had a similarly complicated relationship with her onscreen alter ego. Distinguishing herself from Lizzie, especially as an impressionable teenage girl coming of age in the spotlight, was difficult.

“There wasn’t a Hilary and Lizzie stop and end. I wish I could tell you that I was such a brilliant actress that at 12 or 13 years old, I came to work and put the Lizzie hat on. But I definitely did not,” she told CBC in early March, adding that she didn’t mind being referred to as Lizzie McGuire out in public. “It wasn’t until a couple years later that that started to really get under my skin. ‘Cause I had outgrown that person, and she’s stuck forever at that age.”

Because being “super rebellious” wasn’t her personality, Duff said she relied on music as a means of distancing herself from the Lizzie McGuire of it all. Leaning into songwriting proved successful for Duff, who had a slew of hits in the aughts — from her rainy-day anthem “Come Clean” to her virally choreographed, dance-pop hit “With Love.”

“That was my way of trying to find my identity outside of Lizzie McGuire, and [it] worked pretty well,” she told the outlet. “Then I move into my late 20s and I’m a mother, and I’m still Lizzie McGuire. [It] would just give a little knot in my stomach. Like, ‘Am I ever going to do anything that’s going to impact people the same?’ Like, ‘Is it me or was it her? Do they love her or do they love me?’ It was all very hard to comb through.”

Where Cyrus had prioritized shock value, Duff pivoted away from Disney more quietly. It was during her late teens and early 20s that she entered her party-girl era, at which point she was scrutinized for her body image and for her age-gap romance with rocker Joel Madden of Good Charlotte. She released her album Dignity during this time, before stepping away from music for eight years. Breathe In. Breathe Out. came out in 2015, before Duff went on an even longer hiatus.

The Younger star prioritized her personal life and acting career in the years that followed, before eventually announcing — and then releasing — her first album in over 10 years, Luck… or Something in February.

Duff’s new musical era feels like a harmonious blend of the past and the present. She’s ushering in a new chapter while also paying homage to her Disney star beginnings. During her Small Rooms, Big Nerves tour in January, Duff performed her Lizzie McGuire Movie hit, “What Dreams Are Made Of,” and playfully recreated her iconic, “You’re watching Disney Channel!” promo with a drumstick instead of a wand.

“I am so overwhelmingly grateful for that experience and to have me and this person. I feel like we have each other, in this weird way. And I’m super appreciative for all of that,” Duff told CBS Mornings about Lizzie McGuire. “But it was really challenging to get to a point of peace with that.”

What Cyrus and Duff share is their ability to move forward with their lives and careers, while still acknowledging their Disney roots in ways that feel right to them. There’s something to be said about how both of these women, with their massive millennial followings, have cultivated balanced, fulfilling lives that allow for both growth and nostalgia. It’s the best of both worlds.

“I get so much of every single thing I want. My relationship is private, my business is successful and I get to have the small things people take for granted, like waking up in my own bed and feeding my dogs,” Cyrus told Variety. “But then I also get to be Hannah again and have people sobbing because they just saw ‘This Is the Life’ live. I love that I’ve curated my life that way.”

The Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special premieres on Disney+ on Tuesday, at which point, troves of millennial women will flock to their TVs and relive the magic of their youth. What’s even more moving about this “Hannahversary” is the fact that Cyrus herself is thrilled to be back. Coming home isn’t an obligation for her — it’s an honor.