LOS ANGELES — Miley Cyrus used Disney’s Hannah Montana 20th anniversary special to confirm an early romance with Dylan Sprouse and to share a warm reunion with Billy Ray Cyrus as Disney+ and Hulu rolled out the nostalgia-heavy tribute two decades after the series premiere. Built around an Alex Cooper interview, recreated sets and archival footage, the special turns a franchise celebration into a more personal look at the Disney role that launched Cyrus’ career, March 24, 2026.
In Disney’s official trailer announcement, the company described the program as a love letter to fans built around behind-the-scenes access, surprise guests and a new musical performance. An Associated Press report from the Los Angeles premiere said the special opens with “The Best of Both Worlds,” closes with a new song dedicated to Cyrus’ younger self and brings Billy Ray Cyrus and Selena Gomez back into the orbit of the franchise. Disney has also said the broader Hannah Montana catalog has topped half a billion hours streamed globally on Disney+, underscoring why the anniversary special was treated as a major event rather than a one-night novelty.
Hannah Montana 20th anniversary special turns old Disney rumors into confirmed stories
The biggest headline-grabber is Cyrus’ confirmation that Dylan Sprouse was not just a rumor from her early Disney years. In E!’s rundown of the special’s biggest revelations, Cyrus makes clear that the long-circulating talk about a Sprouse-era crush was rooted in a real relationship. It is a small disclosure in the larger story of the special, but it works because it gives the reunion a candid, off-script feel instead of the usual polished nostalgia package.
The Billy Ray Cyrus segment lands with more emotional weight. A recent Entertainment Weekly report on Cyrus’ Hannah Montana years noted that she still views her father as a daily source of protection from her child-star period, and the new special leans into that history rather than avoiding it. Instead of playing the reunion as pure fan service, the special frames Billy Ray as part of the foundation of the show and of Miley’s understanding of that era.
A reunion years in the making
This moment did not come out of nowhere. In a 2020 PEOPLE interview, Cyrus said she was open to bringing Hannah back in some form. By the time she became the youngest Disney Legend in a 2024 PEOPLE report on her D23 honor, she was still publicly embracing the character instead of trying to outrun it.
Then, in a July 2025 PEOPLE interview, Cyrus said she wanted to create something “really special” for the 20th anniversary. Taken together, those checkpoints make the new special feel less like a sudden corporate nostalgia play and more like a long-signaled homecoming.
That is why the special works. It still delivers the easy pleasures fans expect — the wig, the old sets, the Disney Channel energy and the familiar songs — but it also lets Cyrus place Hannah Montana inside the bigger story of her life. The result is not a reboot and not quite a conventional cast reunion, either. It is a curated look back at how a Disney sitcom became a permanent part of Miley Cyrus’ public identity, and why she seems far more comfortable claiming that history now than she did for years.
