When the kids on “Wizards Beyond Waverly Place” got to meet Selena Gomez, they were taken by her “chill” factor and her willingness to help them.
“If we ever needed something, if we ever had a problem, she said we could always ask,” recalls Alkaio Thiele, who stars in the sequel to “Wizards of Waverly Place.”
Before they could even put Gomez on speed dial, a producer cautioned them: “Make sure your problem is actually a problem.” Luckily, Thiele adds, Gomez (who’s an executive producer) and David Henrie (who plays his TV dad and starred in the original series) have “created such a great environment, there haven’t been many problems.”
The new series picks up where the old left off, showing what happened to Gomez’s character and tracking her brother (played by Henrie) and his family.
There's chaos in the house when a new wizard moves in on "Wizards Beyond Waverly Place." From left, David Henrie, Janice LeAnn Brown and Selena Gomez.
Salute to the past
“We wanted to pay homage to the original show, but we wanted to do it differently,” Henrie says. He and Gomez stayed close since the show ended and, “whenever we’d get together, we talked about the memories we had from the original show and then speculate on what our characters were up to. At a certain point we realized, ‘Hey, I think we’ve got something here.’”
In the new series, Henrie’s Justin Russo is determined to lead a normal, mortal life with his wife and two sons. When his sister, Alex (played by Gomez), brings a young friend to his home seeking help, Justin realizes he has to use his magic skills to help Billie, the wizard-in-training.
For Janie LeAnn Brown, who plays Billie, “Beyond Waverly” is an ideal work situation.
“He cares a lot for us as kids,” she says of Henrie. “Yes, we are kids working an adult job but that does not mean we have to necessarily be adults. He still allows us to have a childhood, while doing the thing that we love.”
Dad (David Henrie) has his hands full when a new wizard (Janice LeAnn Brown) moves into the house and his son (Max Matenko) decides to show off in "Wizards Beyond Waverly Place."
Treat kids like kids
Because he and Gomez had a great experience on the original series, Henrie wanted to make sure the lessons were passed on.
“You need to always treat kids like kids,” Henrie says. “One of the things my parents did well was they never were telling me, ‘You need to do this to be the breadwinner’ or ‘I’m going to take your money,’ or anything like that that can really divide families and create an inverted dynamic.”
Over 26 years, Henrie adds, he has seen the good, the bad and the ugly that a career in entertainment has to offer. “I really make a conscious effort to bring all of my good experiences forward and learn from them. At the heart of it is really a servant/leadership model. We’re here to serve this audience. There are people out there who need to smile. There are people out there going through a really, really rough time and they can use some heart and humor…and we’re here for that person.”
Learning the ropes: From left, Taylor Cora, Alkaio Thiele and Janice LeeAnn Brown.
Two levels
Mimi Gianopulos, who plays Henrie’s wife, Mimi, says the new series benefits from its OG actors’ experience. “Nobody understands what it’s like to be a kid on a set more than (David and Selena),” she says. “They’re really able to be so supportive and create a culture that extends to every single person.”
Even better, the new series can exist on two levels. “There’s a level for the kids who are watching and a level for the parents who are coming back to watch,” Gianopulos says. “With us it’s been really organic. That comes from David and he really is very intentional with the vibe on the set. I feel really blessed to be a part of it.”
Thiele, meanwhile, was thrilled there was a visual connection between him and Henrie.
“I thought I was looking in the mirror myself as a young kid,” Henrie says. “Obviously that’s good when you’re trying to cast a son, but what set him apart was his acting. His timing is impeccable and that’s something you can’t really teach. You can hone it and sharpen it, but you can’t teach that instinct.”
The resemblance, Thiele says, didn’t hurt his chances. “I even had my hair a little like David’s. David looked at me and then he looked at the producers and I just started laughing. We kind of had a connection as father and son.”
Sioux City Journal entertainment reporter Bruce Miller speaks with Mimi Gianopulos, star of Disney+'s "Wizards Beyond Waverly Place."
As soon as he got the role, Thiele “took a deep dive into David’s character in the original show. Things he did with his hands, the way he talked, the weird, geeky stuff he did with his wand, I started copying in order to create this new character.”
For Max Matenko, who plays son Milo, the learning curve was a bit different. “I didn’t know if he was super smart, not so smart, not so athletic, athletic. When I watched the show, I took a little bit of inspiration from Max,” the brother played by Jake T. Austin. Adding a bit of his own personality, Matenko says, he was able to form Milo.
Taylor Cora, who plays Billie’s best friend, Winter, got to find her own path. Before the audition, she watched one episode of “Wizards of Waverly Place,” “but I didn’t want to get too influenced by what I saw.” Now that she’s in the fold? “I’m on, like season three.”
And a close encounter with Selena Gomez? It hasn’t happened, she says, “because they filmed the pilot without me.”
A meeting with Gomez? It’s just a phone call away.
"Wizards Beyond Waverly Place" airs on The Disney Channel and Disney+.
Sioux City Journal entertainment reporter Bruce Miller speaks with David Henrie and Janice LeAnn Brown, stars of Disney+'s "Wizards Beyond Waverly Place."
