‘Wizards Beyond Waverly Place’: David Henrie Recalls How He Pitched Series to Disney with Selena Gomez (Exclusive)

After 11 years, Wizards of Waverly Place is coming back in the form of sequel series Wizards Beyond Waverly Place and original star David Henrie spoke to PopCulture.com about how it came to be. The actor reprises his role as Justin Russo for the new show, premiering on Disney Channel on Oct. 29, and serves as executive producer alongside on-screen sister Selena Gomez, who reprises her role of Alex Russo in the pilot episode.

Wizards ended back in 2012 and came back in 2013 for a special movie. Since then, though, much of the cast have remained close, including Henrie and Gomez, who occasionally get together and even share videos of themselves sharing where they think Justin and Alex would be now. In regards to actually thinking that something could come out of it, “Over the years, I would probably say no,” Henrie shared. “I didn’t think this is what would happen.”

“But as time went on, it just started to make sense,” Henrie continued. “Like, Selena and I spent so much time over the years just kind of joking about what our characters would need. And then, at a certain point, I got married. I started having my own kids, and it just became clear that it’s been plenty of time. Why don’t we just have this conversation with Disney? Let’s formalize this a little bit more, structure it a little more. And so we did see it, and I went in. We sat down with all the executives at Disney and pitched out an idea and that was kind of the seed planted for what is this show now.”

And from that pitch came Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, which follows Justin, no longer a wizard but with a wife and two sons. After Alex makes a surprise visit with young wizard Billie, she asks her brother to teach her, and he has to dig back into his magical past. It will be the first time fans are seeing Justin again since the series finale in 2012, and not only has a lot changed for Justin, but a lot has changed for Henrie.

“I feel incredibly blessed to be here,” the actor said. “This has been many years in the making, and if I would go back and tell myself at 14 I’d be here doing this, I don’t know if I would believe it. So, I’m incredibly blessed. I get to do it with my family, too. My kids get to come visit set.Like, what more could I could I ask for? I’m incredibly blessed.”

While Selena Gomez will only be appearing in a few episodes, including the pilot, David Henrie is starring in the show with Janice LeAnn Brown, Mimi Gianopulos, Alkaio Thiele, Max Matenko, and Taylor Cora. Fans will soon see this next generation of Wizards when Wizards Beyond Waverly Place premieres on Tuesday, Oct. 29 on Disney Channel, with the first eight episodes dropping on Disney+ the following day.