Austin Butler just might be ready to dust off his Disney roots for a Hannah Montana comeback.
During the London premiere of Caught Stealing, the Elvis star was asked by Metro Entertainment if he’d consider reuniting with Miley Cyrus for a revival or 20th anniversary special of the iconic series. Butler looked genuinely surprised. “Is that a thing?” he said. “Wow… 20 years? That’s crazy.”
Butler actually appeared on Hannah Montana twice. He first showed up in season one back in 2006 in a small, uncredited role as Toby, the ex-boyfriend of Miley’s classmate Becca Weller (Kirby Bliss Blanton). He later returned in season two with a bigger part, playing Derek Hanson — the timid cousin of Miley’s crush Lucas (Sterling Knight) — in the episode “My Best Friend’s Boyfriend.”
Asked if he’d ever step back into Derek’s shoes, Butler admitted,
I don’t know, I hadn’t thought about it until just now.
Still, he lit up while reminiscing about his Disney days:
I have such great memories. We had a lot of fun. So I don’t know!
Cyrus has already hinted that something special is in the works. Speaking on On Air With Ryan Seacrest last month, she teased: “It’s about to be the 20-year Hannahversary! Trust me, I wanna design something really, really special for it, ’cause it really was the beginning of all of this that sits here today.”
Though it’s unclear what a potential anniversary project might look like, Disney has leaned into revivals of its early 2000s hits. That’s So Raven returned in 2017 as Raven’s Home, which ran for six seasons, while Wizards of Waverly Place recently spawned the Disney+ sequel Wizards Beyond Waverly Place with David Henrie returning and Selena Gomez making a guest appearance. Even Nickelodeon joined the wave, reviving iCarly for a three-season run on Paramount+ with much of the original cast.
For Butler, who’s now known for acclaimed roles in Elvis, The Bikeriders, and Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, it’s a reminder of how far he’s come since his teen-actor days. Before breaking big in film, he popped up across countless tween favorites, including Wizards of Waverly Place, iCarly, Jonas, Zoey 101, and even as Zippy Brewster in Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide.
If the Hannahversary really happens, fans may get to see Butler return to the Disney Channel universe that first gave him his start.
