Emily Osment said she could not take part in the anniversary reunion because she was filming her CBS sitcom, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage. Mitchel Musso said later that he was asked to join but did not feel the invitation was presented to him correctly. He wanted to return as Oliver Oken in a proper episode, not a retrospective built around Miley Cyrus. The two explanations are separate, and the reporting does not link either absence to a dispute with Cyrus or to each other.
What the special was
Disney announced the program on February 17, 2026, as a live-audience production built around an in-depth interview with Miley Cyrus, hosted by Alex Cooper. Disney set the streaming date for March 24, 2026, on Disney+. It was a one-hour special, not a new episode of the original sitcom, and its focus was Cyrus’s own recollections of the show.
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Emily Osment: a filming conflict
Osment posted a video from the set of Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage on March 23, 2026, the day before the special premiered. She said the cast was shooting that day, which was why she could not be part of the 20-year reunion. She thanked viewers for continuing to support the show and said she was proud to have been part of Hannah Montana.
Her account is about scheduling. Osment did not describe a disagreement over the format, the invitation, or Cyrus. Reporting from TheWrap, published March 23, 2026, carried her explanation, and she did not say whether an alternate date was discussed.
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Mitchel Musso: the pitch, not the date
Musso’s March social post celebrated the series and its fans but did not give a reason for his absence. He addressed the matter in June 2026 on the Joe Vulpis Podcast. According to Us Weekly, which published his comments on June 25, 2026, he said he had been asked to take part, but the way the offer was framed did not work for him. In the words Us Weekly reproduced: “Of course they asked me [to be in it],” and “But, it wasn’t presented correctly [to me].”
Musso said he had hoped to play Oliver again in a proper Hannah Montana episode. A retrospective interview did not meet that hope, so he declined. Unlike Osment’s reason, his was a judgment about the offer itself.
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Why the format left little room
Showrunner Ashley Edens described the special as a one-hour program centered on Cyrus’s experience. Capital, reporting on her remarks to TheWrap on April 1, 2026, quoted her: “We toyed around with what was the most heart-led for Miley. If maybe we had a two-hour special, there would have been room, but I really think this is about Miley and her experience.” She added: “I hope that comes across in the special. It wasn’t that she didn’t want anyone else there — I think her love for all those classmates comes through, but…in the hour special, we really just leaned into Miley and her experience and it being through her lens.”
That explanation gives context for Musso’s objection to a retrospective. It does not explain Osment’s absence, which she tied to her shooting schedule.
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Missing from the special, not from the original show
The two actors are easy to confuse because their absences have different reasons and different scopes. The table below separates what each said, where, and when.
| Actor | Original role | Stated reason | Where and when stated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emily Osment | Lilly Truscott, Miley Stewart’s best friend | Filming Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage on the day of the special’s taping | Video posted March 23, 2026, reported by TheWrap |
| Mitchel Musso | Oliver Oken, one of Miley’s close friends | Was asked, but the invitation was not presented correctly; wanted to play Oliver in a proper episode | Joe Vulpis Podcast, June 2026; reported by Us Weekly on June 25, 2026 |
Neither absence should be described as a cut from the cast, because the special is a retrospective and not a continuation of the series. Reporting also noted that some original cast members attended the premiere without appearing in the special, so “missing from the special” and “absent from the premiere” are different claims. The reporting does not name who attended, so this article does not list them.
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The series both actors helped define
Hannah Montana ran four seasons, from 2006 to 2010. Disney’s official series listing on Disney+ includes Osment and Musso among the principal cast, and it frames the show around Miley Stewart keeping her identity as pop star Hannah Montana a secret. Osment played Lilly, Miley’s closest friend, and Musso played Oliver, another of Miley’s friends. Us Weekly, in its June 2026 coverage, describes Musso’s role as spanning more than 70 episodes.
What remains unknown
The reporting does not establish whether Osment could have attended on another date, whether production discussed alternate schedules with her, or whether Musso was offered a different way to take part. Those points were not reported, so the explanations above should be read as each actor’s own account, not a complete picture of the negotiations.
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