The Disney Stars You Forgot About Are on Lifetime

Have you ever wondered what happens to Disney Channel stars when their reign as Queen of Tweens ends? It looks like they just grow up to star in Lifetime Original Movies. The latest movie to make us laugh, cry, and question our taste in entertainment is Expecting Amish , which premieres on Lifetime Saturday, July 19 and stars AJ Michalka and Allyson Stoner, both of whom had stints on the Disney Channel, in addition to Jesse McCartney, who used to be loved by tweens the world over.

Expecting Amish will quench our seemingly undying thirst for watching the Amish on TV. Over the past two years, shows such as Breaking Amish, Amish Mafia, and Return to Amish have captured the cultural zeitgeist for giving us a peek into this reclusive religious sect, often highlighting the behavior of its young people when they leave the Church.

Rumspringa, a time when Amish youth break free from the supervision of their parents and are not yet baptized in the Amish Church, is at the center of Expecting Amish. The main protagonist is Hannah Yoder (Michalka), an 18-year-old who is ready to become a member of the Amish Church and marry her boyfriend Samuel. However, she decides to go on Rumspringa with her friends (one of whom is played by Stoner) in Los Angeles to have one last hurrah, I suppose, where she meets a DJ named Josh (McCartney). Josh convinces Hannah that she has a beautiful soul, and she decides to leave the Amish behind and start a new life with Josh in LA. There's just one thing: She has to go home and tell her family. And it's not even like she can call, text, or email them because they're Amish.

That's already a lot to deal with, but then Hannah finds out she's pregnant with Josh's child, which makes this an even stickier situation. Oh, so that's what "Expecting" means in the title. If you think this is just Lifetime upping the drama in this film, this sort of thing actually does happen. It's all very reminiscent of Lizzie from Breaking Amish: Los Angeles , who got pregnant out of wedlock with her boyfriend Hoj and kept it from her family, eventually deciding to leave the Amish to be with Hoj and raise her child in the English world.

In Expecting Amish, Hannah has to make a choice: Does she stay with Samuel and raise the baby as his? Or does she run away with Josh to live as the English do and possibly never be able to see her family again? However, I think we all know the real burning question for us is whether or not Stoner will bust a move in this film.

If the Lifetime Original Movie staples of melodrama, strict religious groups, and debauchery are your thing, you'll get plenty of that in Expecting Amish. If not, you probably wouldn't be reading this article anyway.

Image: Jack Zeman/A&E Television Networks (2)