20 Years of Hannah Montana: A Full-Circle Moment for Fans

Written by Summer Cirone | April 4th 2026

One of the biggest nostalgia events in millennial pop culture just happened: the 20th anniversary of Hannah Montana! For us millennials, this is like when Jesus came back, except it took 20 years. For anyone who isn’t able to understand why this event is so important to us, let me explain.

Miley Cyrus was 11 years old when she first was cast as the leading star of the Disney show Hannah Montana. And without surprise, the show was a huge success. Between the movies, clothing line, merch, and concerts, Miley and Hannah were taking over every young girl’s world from 2007–2013. At one point, it was beyond kids. Everyone knew who Hannah Montana was, even adults. So us fans truly got to watch her grow up; we’ve been there with her every step, every stage, every phase.

As many of us know, Miley had quite a few crazy phases. For a while there, no one ever expected to hear the name Hannah Montana ever again. So this entire special was oozing nostalgia everywhere. The Miley and Hannah combo truly shaped an entire generation, so getting to see “Hannah” was extremely healing for lots of us. If you happened to miss the special, let me give you a little recap.

Jumping straight into a flood of memories, the special opens with a compilation of scenes from the TV show and movie. Just hearing the theme song was such a throwback. Opening with a performance of The Best of Both Worlds, Miley steps onto the scene, but as Hannah Montana. The full look: the long blonde hair, the sparkly scarf—she looked truly amazing. One re-recorded “ooooooooo oooo ooo, yeaaaaaahhhhhh yeaaah,” and we’re on the move, straight to the TV show set.

Watching Hannah walk back onto the set was truly surreal, for her and for the fans watching. It’s been two decades since the show premiered; it looks exactly the same, even the legs table. She brings out a fellow millennial and true Hannah Montana fangirl, Alex Cooper, the podcaster from Call Her Daddy. Alex begins the interview by asking about the set and how it feels to be back after 20 years.

Miley expresses the nostalgia she feels being dressed as Hannah and how surreal it feels to be back on the set that she spent so much of her youth on. Miley gets emotional talking about how her pop star experience is unique to her. Because she started in this industry so young and has been in the spotlight her whole life, not many pop stars can compare to her legacy. And she thanks the fans entirely for that.

Cooper goes on to ask how this whole special came to fruition. Miley explains this whole thing just kind of happened—she manifested it. It started with a question on the red carpet, asking if she had any big plans for the anniversary coming up. She lied and said “YES!” She honestly played it smart. She knew that if she promoted the idea and got her fans’ support, Disney would have to follow through. And she was right; soon the fans were demanding something for the anniversary.

Miley says that one of the main reasons she wanted to host this special instead of a tour was to reach more fans, saying “everybody could watch and have me in their living room; it’s more inclusive.” Of course, we all would prefer a tour, but this was such a better way to really make sure she could reach all of her fans. This was really about celebrating Hannah and what the show did for us all—how it made us feel, how we grew in the chaos together, for reflection and nostalgia. How Miley grew and never thought she would ever return to Hannah, but it’s a part of her and she is so grateful for it all.

Reflecting on how this all started, we get to see Miley’s first audition tape at 11 years old. Cooper asks her what she thinks stood out to Disney, why she was chosen. Without hesitation and absolute certainty, she says “uniqueness, charisma, talent, and audacity.” Miley prides herself on how she was always so raw and authentic, even from a young age.

Of course, we have to know which Disney boy was her favorite. Cooper is doing the fans justice with these questions. As expected, Zac Efron, but not in his High School Musical days—more once he started to gray. Miley does confirm, though, that her first Disney boyfriend was Dylan Sprouse, until Nick Jonas walked by and then it was game over.

Taking a little break from the interview, the special moves into the iconic Hannah closet. Every young girl or gay was jaw-dropped when we saw that closet. Miley and her mother Trish decided to pull some of the most memorable Hannah pieces from the archives and share them with us. We even get a little BTS fun fact: Trish used to do most of the shopping for both Hannah and Miley; she had a very specific image in mind that she wanted for both of the personas. Miley said they even modeled her home closet after the Hannah closet when she was growing up. Wow, I’ve never been more jealous.

Going to the next stop on the nostalgia train, Miley makes a stop at her old dance studio and sees her old choreographer—that’s right, the creator of the famous Hoedown Throwdown. I can’t even pretend that I didn’t know every move to that dance.

To add even more memories, Miley brings out Selena Gomez to join her in the Hannah closet. Selena played Mikala, Hannah’s enemy on the show. Seeing them together on the set was such a throwback. Of course, Billy Ray Cyrus had to make an appearance as well; he joins his daughter on the set he also spent a lot of time on. They run lines together from one of the last episodes and have a quick heartfelt interaction.

As Miley gets up to leave set and head to her closing performance, she says her last goodbye to the set. Seeing her recreate her last goodbye from the last episode was EVERYTHING. For those of us who saw that episode and were there when the show ended, this felt like a hug from Miley to us.

Moving into the performance part of the special, Hannah performs This Is the Life. A true full-circle moment for both Miley and Hannah, this is the first song ever performed live for Hannah. So it only felt right for it to be in the last concert we’ll ever see from Hannah.

Following up with The Climb, one of Miley’s most famous songs, originally from the first Hannah Montana movie, this song is truly about not giving up on yourself—which was just the icing on the cake for the fans. We have all watched Miley grow into the amazing woman and artist she is today. We literally watched her climb, so it was only right to feel emotional during the song.

Closing the performance, Hannah gives a speech about how grateful she is to be a core memory in everyone’s youth and growth. You can really feel how healing this whole special was for her. You can tell this is just as much for her as it is for the fans.

Miley performs her last song as Hannah, a new song she wrote for the special and as a final goodbye to Hannah. Younger You is a song about talking to your younger self, checking in, asking how things are. Miley performs this in a new stage setting, with an intimate feel—more raw. Less lights, just a stool and the band behind her. Clips and images from the show are projected behind, and it just brings all the emotions. The song feels like one last hug from our childhood.

Closing the special, Miley is met backstage with her mother Trish and her sister Noah. Recapping on Noah’s memories on the show, being Miley’s little sister, she was on set all the time—running around, cast as several extras, and she even had some fun interactions with her sister on the show.

All in all, the special was a success—the reach, the nostalgia, the emotions, the look, the voice. Everything felt like it was planned for my younger self; it was a self-care event I didn’t know I needed. So for that, thank you, Miley Cyrus. The special is still currently streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.