Selena Gomez Will Return as Alex Russo in New ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ Pilot With David Henrie
Selena Gomez and David Henrie are headed back to the wizard world.
The former onscreen siblings will reunite for Disney Channel’s new Wizards of Waverly Place revival pilot. “So excited!! ??,” Gomez, who will reprise her role as Alex Russo for at least the first episode, captioned a new article screenshot via her Instagram Story on Thursday, January 18.
In another Instagram Story upload, Gomez, 31, shared a pic of herself and Henrie, 34, on the original series, which she captioned, “WE’RE BACK.” Henrie, who played Alex’s older brother, Justin Russo, shared his excitement via his own Instagram Story, writing, “Been waiting to talk about this FOREVER! Let’s have a ?? 2024 y'all ?? the Russo’s are back!”
According to multiple outlets, Gomez will make a guest appearance as Alex in the pilot, which will center around a grown-up Justin and his family. After giving up his powers, Justin will jump back into the world of magic by taking a young wizard named Billie, played by Janice LeAnn Brown, under his wing in order to secure the future of the wizard world.
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The revival will also star Mimi Gianopulos as Justin’s wife, Giada, and Alkaio Thiele as one of Justin’s two sons, Roman. Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas, the executive producers behind the That’s So Raven spinoff, Raven’s Home, will write the pilot and executive producer with Gomez and Henrie.
Henrie teased the new series via Instagram by sharing a pic of the pilot script. According to the snap, the show is currently titled Wizards. “The Russo’s are excited to become a part of your family, once again, but we’ve grown ??,” he wrote on Thursday. “2024, the year magic comes back! ??.”
The original Wizards of Waverly Place ran for four seasons on Disney Channel from 2007 and 2012 and followed the magical hijinks of wizard siblings Justin, Alex and Max (Jake T. Austin). The series also starred David DeLuise and Maria Canals-Barrera as parents Jerry and Theresa Russo, respectively, and Jennifer Stone as Alex’s best friend, Harper Finkle.
The series finale ended with Alex becoming a full wizard after winning the family wizard competition. Justin also got to retain his powers as the new headmaster of the wizarding school, WizTech. Max was set up to take over the family’s sandwich shop down the line.
The main cast, along with Gregg Sulkin as Alex’s boyfriend Mason Greyback, returned one year later for the 2013 TV movie The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex.
The cast has continued to stay in touch over the years and had a mini reunion at Henrie’s April 2017 wedding. He and his wife, Maria Cahill, have since become parents of kids Pia, 4, James, 2, and Gemma, 17 months. Gomez also served as an executive producer on Henrie’s 2020 feature-length directorial debut, This Is the Year.
Last year, Gomez admitted to feeling guilty about not keeping as close of contact with other cast members once her career skyrocketed. “I felt ashamed of the decisions that I made. I didn’t want you guys to see me in the state that I was in,” she told DeLuise, 52, and Stone, 30, on a February 2023 episode of the “Wizards of Waverly Pod” podcast. “Because A: you would have told me the truth, which terrifies me. And B: I didn’t want to let you down.”
