Selena Gomez and her on-screen brother, David Henrie, said the release of the long-awaited Wizards of Waverly Place sequel brought back feelings of familiarity.
“I felt like I was home again,” said Gomez, 32. Varieties Marc Malkin on Thursday night at the season four premiere of his hit show Only Murders in the Building in Los Angeles.
“I’m so happy I was able to give back this childhood gift I was given to the new little ones.”
The duo announced the new Disney show, called Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, in May.
“It was crazy,” Henrie, 35, said of working with the Calm Down singer again.
Selena Gomez and her on-screen brother, David Henrie, said the release of the long-awaited Wizards of Waverly Place sequel brought back familiar feelings. “I felt like I was home again,” Gomez, 32, told Variety.
‘Nothing was said, but we were behind a door and we heard: ‘Action’, we looked at each other and thought: ‘This is crazy’.
“It was like not a day had passed in 12 years. We were back to where we were before.”
The premise is that Henrie’s character, Justin Russo, has accepted life as a mortal and is raising his family without magic.
That delicate balance is upset when Alex (Gomez) introduces them to a young magician with a rebellious streak named Billie (Janice LeAnn Brown), who comes to live with Justin, his wife and their children.
Justin agrees to mentor the young wizard-in-training while juggling his everyday responsibilities and protecting the future of the wizarding world.
Gomez was only scheduled to appear in the first episode, so far, but both she and Henrie will serve as executive producers on the series.
‘Selena, my wife and I spent so much time over the years drinking wine and talking about where the characters would be that at one point we looked at each other and said, “I think we have a show. I think we should go talk to Disney about this.”
“And we did it. It took us years of development to get it exactly where it needed to be,” he told the outlet.
He said the new show “came from a place of love.”
Henrie and Gomez played brothers Justin and Alex Russo on Wizards of Waverly Place, which aired from 2007 to 2012 on Disney Channel.
The duo announced the long-awaited spin-off, Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, in May. Henrie, 35, revealed that she will be using her original wand in the new show.
The actor revealed that he will be using his original wand in the new episodes.
When Wizards ended in 2012, the cast received glass-wrapped wands as gifts.
“I thought, ‘I’m going to bring this up again,'” Henrie said.
The actor and producer said there is plenty of room for growth with the spinoff.
“It’s a very fertile universe. Many things could be done.”
Both Gomez and Henrie, 35, will serve as executive producers on the series. Gomez was previously scheduled to appear in just one episode.
The premise is that Justin (Henrie) has decided to live as a mortal and raise his children, played by Max Matenko and Alkaio Thiele, without magic, but that plan runs into trouble when he agrees to mentor a young wizard-in-training named Billie, played by Janice LeAnn Brown.
Wizards of Waverly Place ran from 2007 to 2012, but remains a fan favorite.
“The most common question Selena gets asked to this day is about Wizards. It’s a show that meant a lot to a lot of people,” Henrie explained.
As for how audiences will react to the new show, Gomez is hopeful there could be more than one season. “We don’t know,” she said, “but if people like it, we’ll see.”
No release date has been announced for Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, but the show is expected to debut later this year.
