Selena Gomez and David Henrie Are Reuniting for a Wizards of Waverly Place Sequel
Selena Gomez will be playing Wizards of Waverly Places’ Alex Russo again. Deadline reported this afternoon that Gomez will be joining her on-screen brother David Henrie in a sequel to the Disney Channel series that made them famous. Gomez confirmed the news on her Instagram Story, writing that she was “so excited,” and “we’re back.”
Gomez will be a guest star in the show’s pilot, which Disney Branded Television has ordered, while Henrie will be a series regular as his character, Justin Russo.
Gomez and Henrie will be executive-producing the series, along with the series’ writers, Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas. Gary Marsh and Andy Fickman will also serve as executive producers, and Fickman will direct as well.
According to Deadline, the show “picks up after a mysterious incident at WizTech, where an adult Justin Russo has left his wizard powers behind, opting for a normal, human life with his wife and two sons. But he gets a surprise when a powerful young wizard in need of training shows up at his door… and Justin must embrace his past to ensure the future of the Wizard World.” That wizard, Billie, will be played by Janice LeAnn Brown. Alkaio Thiele will play Justin’s oldest son, while Mimi Gianopulos will play his wife.
No information has come out yet about what Gomez’s character, Alex, is up to.
Last February, Gomez reflected on the series during an appearance on her former co-stars Jennifer Stone and David DeLuise’s Wizards of Waverly Pod podcast. Stone played Alex’s best friend in the series, Harper, while DeLuise played Alex’s father.
“I can’t imagine it any other way,” Gomez said then of the experience. “I remember being nervous, but as long as David [DeLuise] was there, I was like, ‘Okay, I’m good.’ At the beginning, I was like, ‘Well, I just don’t want a new family.’ I felt like I bonded with everyone. Little did I know that I ended up with everyone I needed to be in my life. I think I felt safe, and that’s a really hard thing for me to feel. I know that you guys love me for me. There’s not really… You guys genuinely loved me, and that’s all I could have asked for, the unconditional trust and bond we had, I miss so much.”
“I can’t begin to tell you guys without making it such a little cry session,” she added later. “I felt like I was the happiest I had been my whole life, and I don’t want that to be a sad thought, because I’m really grateful and happy, but it was definitely the happiest times for me. I recognize that obviously it’s because I have this different attention on me [now] that I just didn’t have then, and that was a really pure time, and I miss that.”
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she’s not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.