February 18, 2026 — 3:48pm
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Last year, noughties pop stars the Jonas Brothers celebrated their 20th anniversary with a tour in which they brought out Demi Lovato of Camp Rock fame. Last week Hilary Duff (aka Lizzie McGuire) announced her first world tour in 18 years. Now Miley Cyrus is finding her way back home with a highly anticipated Hannah Montana special.
It seems Gen Z is officially old enough to enter the nostalgia market.
Miley Cyrus is bringing Hannah Montana back to our screens after 20 years.
Two decades after the sitcom transformed Cyrus into a global phenomenon, the Grammy-winning singer is returning to Disney to feature in the Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special.
Landing on Disney+ next month, the special will reflect on how the series became a defining cultural sensation for tweens of the 2000s, shaping their music tastes and even their lexicon (remember when every kid kept saying “sweet niblets”?)
“Hannah Montana will always be a part of who I am,” the singer said in a statement. “What started as a TV show became a shared experience that shaped my life and the lives of so many fans, and I’ll always be thankful for that connection.
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“The fact that it still means so much to people all these years later is something I’m very proud of. This ‘Hannahversary’ is my way of celebrating and thanking the fans who’ve stood by me for 20 years.”
Before anyone gets their hopes up, Cyrus won’t actually reprise her role as the double-life pop star. She will instead feature as herself, taking part in an in-depth interview about the show with Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper. It will be filmed in front of a studio audience and will feature never-before-seen archival footage, as well as some of the series’ most memorable sets (yes, that includes Hannah Montana’s closet).
Cyrus, whose song Dream As One from the Avatar: Fire and Ash soundtrack was recently nominated for a Golden Globe, may even perform some of Hannah Montana’s most iconic songs, though no titles have yet been confirmed.
The singer has been teasing a comeback for months, posting photos from her Hannah Montana “archive” on Instagram and telling TikTok Radio she wanted to design something “really, really special” for the anniversary. However, it became official on Wednesday morning (Australian time) when Cyrus shared a video of her stepping into a studio lot, The Best of Both Worlds (the show’s iconic theme song) playing quietly in the background. Safe to say, fans immediately lost their minds.
We first met Hannah Montana, a teenage girl who lives a secret double-life as a world-famous pop star, in 2006. The show quickly grew into a cultural juggernaut, beloved by Gen Z viewers for its quirky humour, endlessly catchy songs (Nobody’s Perfect, Rock Star, He Could Be the One) and aspirational plot – what young person doesn’t fantasise about what it would be like to be famous?
Hannah Montana also came to define what was arguably the Disney Channel’s golden era, before streaming did a number on the network’s viewership. It aired alongside other popular shows like The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, That’s So Raven and Cory in the House.
The show received four Emmy nominations over its four-season run, but its popularity went beyond the small screen. Before wrapping in 2011, the series spawned 14 platinum and 18 gold albums worldwide. It also inspired several video games, endless merch and two feature films.
Miley Cyrus as Hannah Montana.Disney Channel
Though two decades have since passed, during which Cyrus developed a highly successful solo music career, the show’s influence remains strong. According to Disney, the Hannah Montana catalogue has amassed over half a billion hours streamed globally on Disney+. It has inspired endless memes, and people are still dressing up as the fictional pop diva for Halloween (this is also fuelled by the return of Y2K fashion, which has somehow made sequined bolero jackets and oversized belts cool again).
But as fun as it was to watch her fictional brother Jackson riff off her real-life father Billy Ray Cyrus and Rico just being … Rico, it was ultimately Cyrus we couldn’t get enough of. Her comedy chops were evident from the get-go, not to mention her impeccable singing.
She also became a fascinating case study in fame. Gen Z grew up watching Cyrus transition from a typical child star to a provocative pop figure, then finally to a broadly respected Grammy-winning artist.
For many young fans, Cyrus was the first celebrity to make them question how we collectively criticise the rebranding of female stars. Like Britney Spears and Taylor Swift before her, this ‘Hannahversary’ looks set to put Cyrus front and centre, reclaiming her narrative.
The Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special will land on Disney+ on March 24.
Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.
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Nell Geraets is a Culture and Lifestyle reporter at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.From our partners