Selena Gomez and her brother in the film, David Henrie, said the launch of the long-awaited sequel to Wizards of Waverly Place brought back familiar feelings.
“It felt like I was home again,” Gomez, 32, said Variety Marc Malkin at the premiere of the fourth season of her hit series Only Murders in the Building in Los Angeles on Thursday night.
“I am so happy that I can give back this childhood gift that I received to new little ones.”
The duo announced the new Disney show Wizards Beyond Waverly Place in May.
“It was awesome,” said 35-year-old Henrie about the new collaboration with the Calm Down singer.
Selena Gomez and her on-screen brother, David Henrie, said the launch of the long-awaited Wizards of Waverly Place sequel brought back familiar feelings. “It felt like I was home again,” Gomez, 32, told Variety
“It wasn’t spoken, but we were standing behind a door and heard ‘Action.’ We looked at each other and thought, ‘This is crazy.’
“It was like not a day had gone by in 12 years. We were back to square one.”
The premise is that Henrie’s character, Justin Russo, has embraced life as a mortal and is raising his family without magic.
That delicate balance is upset when Alex (Gomez) introduces them to a young wizard with a rebellious streak named Billie (Janice LeAnn Brown), who comes to live with Justin, his wife and children.
Justin agrees to mentor the young wizard-in-training, while balancing his day-to-day responsibilities with protecting the future of the wizarding world.
Gomez is only set to appear in the first episode so far, but she and Henrie will both serve as executive producers on the series.
‘Selena, my wife, and I have 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 talk to Disney about this.”
“And we did. It took years of development to get it exactly where it needed to be,” he told the outlet.
He said the new show was “born out of love.”
Henrie and Gomez played brothers Justin and Alex Russo on Wizards of Waverly Place, which aired on Disney Channel from 2007 to 2012
The duo announced the highly anticipated spinoff Wizards Beyond Waverly Place in May. Henrie, 35, revealed that he will be using his 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 wands as gift wrappings.
“I thought, I’m going to get this thing out again,” Henrie said
The actor and producer said there is still a lot of room for growth with the spinoff.
“It’s such a fertile universe. You could do so much.”
Both Gomez and Henrie, 35, will serve as executive producers on the series. Gomez was only scheduled to appear in one episode so far
The premise is that Henrie’s Justin 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 is still a fan favorite.
“The number one thing Selena still gets asked about is 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 hopes there will 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 yet, but the series is expected to premiere later this year.