Twenty years after a teenage girl from Tennessee put on a blonde wig and changed the Disney Channel forever, Miley Cyrus is back for a reunion special of the show, and fans could not be more ready.
The “Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special,” which premiered Monday night at Los Angeles’ El Capitan Theatre and began streaming Tuesday on Disney+ and Hulu, has reignited a level of fan enthusiasm that few television anniversaries can claim. The question is: Why does this one hit so differently?
A show that defined a generation
When “Hannah Montana” debuted on Disney Channel on March 24, 2006, it introduced audiences to Miley Stewart, an ordinary high-school student secretly living a double life as pop sensation Hannah Montana. Ms. Cyrus was just 13 years old at the time. Over four seasons and 98 episodes, the series became a cultural juggernaut, spawning merchandise, albums and sold-out live tours — all while making its young star one of the most recognizable faces on the planet.
For the millions of children who grew up watching it, the show carried a message that still resonates. As one super-fan told BBC Newsbeat, the themes of leading a double life mirror the experience of everyday adults. “We all have nine-to-fives, or we might be full-time parents,” she said. “Then we have the other side of our life where we’re so carefree, and we have our hobbies and our passions.”
What the special delivers
The hour-long special, hosted by “Call Her Daddy” podcast host Alex Cooper, features Ms. Cyrus revisiting the iconic Malibu home set, including Hannah’s famous rotating closet, along with celebrity appearances, never-before-seen archival footage and a musical performance. The setlist includes “This Is The Life,” “The Climb,” “The Best of Both Worlds” and a never-before-heard original song. According to Rolling Stone, the performance includes tracks Ms. Cyrus has not played live in more than a decade.
Several major stars attended the Los Angeles premiere, including Selena Gomez, who previously played Hannah’s nemesis Mikayla in the original series, along with Chappell Roan, Lainey Wilson, JoJo Siwa and Willow and Jaden Smith, according to TMZ.
The Cyrus reunion fans didn’t know they needed
Perhaps the most emotionally charged element of the special is the on-screen reunion between Ms. Cyrus and her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, whose relationship has been the subject of considerable public scrutiny in recent years. Mr. Cyrus previously said in a 2011 GQ interview that the show “destroyed” his family and that he wished it had never happened.
That the two appear together now carries real emotional weight for longtime viewers. “I’m really excited for him to be here, because I know how much our relationship means to everyone that watched this show,” Ms. Cyrus told Ms. Cooper during the special, according to USA Today. “I think when me and my dad are good, people, they feel better.”
For many fans who grew up with the show and are now adults themselves, the Cyrus family’s ups and downs mirror a broader, universal experience of family conflict and reconciliation — making the reunion feel as much personal as it does televised.
A franchise that never really went away
Ms. Cyrus, now 33, has hardly stood still since Hannah hung up her wig. She received a Disney Legend award in 2024 and won a Grammy Award for her single “Flowers,” which BBC Newsbeat described as the biggest song of 2023 with 198 million streams. Yet the pull of her Disney Channel origins has proven impossible to escape — and, it seems, she is no longer trying to.
“I don’t know if our reality would be the same without the show, for better or for worse,” Ms. Cyrus reflected during the special, per USA Today. “No family really gets to experience what we had.”
As for Emily Osment, who played best friend Lily Truscott, she was unable to attend the premiere due to filming commitments on her sitcom “Georgie and Mandy’s First Marriage,” but posted a heartfelt tribute on Instagram, calling “Hannah Montana” a “once in a generation Goliath of a television show.”
The “Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special” is now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
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