Wizards of Waverly Place was on the air for four seasons and helped launch the careers of the Selena Gomez, David Henrie, and Jake Austin. Because of a Deadline exclusive, we now know the Disney Channel fantasy sitcom with millions of fans will be getting a sequel. Alex Russo (played by Gomez) and her brother Justin Russo (David Henrie) will reprise their characters, who are now older, for a revival of the show. (Cue happiness on fansites, everywhere.) Based on the information from Deadline and some of our own connecting the dots, we have some theories about when we will be able to watch the Wizards of Waverly Place sequel.
Deadline shared the details of the sequel/revival with their readers, and they were, well, wizardly. Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas, who are perhaps best known for their work on Raven’s Home (which is important and we’ll look at later), will write and EP the new Wizards of Waverly Place spinoff. They’ll have help from Gary Marsh and Andy Flickman. There will be new principal cast members, including Janice LeAnn Brown, Alkaio Thiele, and Mimi Gianopulos.
The story of the Wizards of Waverly Place sequel
According to Deadline, the story of this spinoff will pickup as the siblings are adults. After an incident at WizTech shrouded in mystery, Justin has left the world of magic and opted for an ordinary life and family instead. His past shows up, literally, at his door when a powerful but untrained wizard, Billie (played by Wizards newcomer Janice LeAnn Brown), seeks his help. Justin’s family will be there, too, with Alkaio Thiele portraying Roman Russo, his oldest son, and Mimi Gianopulos as his wife Giada. From the description, it sounds like there’s a lot of room for interesting and funny stories there.
The announcement mentioned that Selena Gomez would be involved as Alex Russo in the project but didn’t give further story details or any hint as to what is going on with her character. She will reportedly guest star in the pilot. Gomez last picked up the mantle of Alex in the 2013 Wizards special, The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex, where there was a family reunion (and lots of magic and an evil mirror clone) in Tuscany, Italy. Right now, the actress is set to appear for a fourth season of Only Murders in the Building (along with fellow series stars Steve Martin and Martin Short) as Mabel Mora.
How to watch the Wizards of Waverly Place sequel
There’s still a way to go from splashy announcement in Deadline to greenlight, but for Wizards of Waverly Place fans, the fact that the revival and strong casting are being made public is a good sign. It means Disney (and the publicists who gave the story to Deadline) have some confidence that this will see the light of day.
There’s no exact date for when the sequel show will be on the air, but you can look to the history of Raven’s Home for a potential clue into the timeline. Like this Wizards of Waverly Place project, Raven’s Home is a spinoff of an original Disney Channel project, in this case, That’s So Raven with Raven-Symoné. And just like this new Wizards show, Raven’s Home was developed by Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas.
The Raven’s Home project was first mentioned in the Hollywood trades in very late October in 2016. At that time, just like here for Wizards, the Raven’s Home announcement only talked about a pilot episode getting the go from the Disney bosses. In April 2017, right in the middle of television’s traditional pilot season, Raven’s Home got the green light for a full series.
Things are different now with the streaming and Hollywood money landscapes, but it’s probably a safe bet that we’ll hear if Disney is ready to fully commit to the Wizards of Waverly reboot in the next seven months. Given that smart money says multi-cam sitcoms are poised for a resurgence, we might even hear earlier. The first episodes of Raven’s Home started airing in July of 2017, about ten months after the first announcement about the series. If that holds true here (fingers crossed), maybe we’ll return to Greenwich Village before the year is out. For now, this is just hopeful speculation using another similar Disney revival as a template. We’ll just have to wait and see what the future holds for the Wizards of Waverly Place.
Our Interview with David DeLuise and Jennifer Stone from Wizards of Waverly Place
Last year at the ATX TV Festival in Austin, we talked to David DeLuise and Jennifer Stone, who played Jerry Russo and Harper Finkle in the original Wizards of Waverly Place. The duo has a podcast called Wizards of Waverly Pod, where they rewatch old show episodes, share their memories and commentary, and even have a few special guests.
You can read our full interview with DeLuise and Stone here:
Interview: Jennifer Stone & David DeLuise of the Wizards of Waverly Pod
You can catch up or rewatch all of the old episodes of the Wizards of Waverly Place on Disney+.
What do you think about the sequel? Are you excited? Leave a comment below or message us on X @MoviesWeTexted to share your thoughts and theories.
Source: Deadline – Selena Gomez & David Henrie Reunite For ‘Wizards Of Waverly Place’ Sequel Pilot For Disney Channel; Cast Set
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