Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week.
The reboots come quicker after the original than ever these days, with a sequel series to 2007-12 Disney Channel tween hit “Wizards of Waverly Place,” now called “Wizards Beyond Waverly Place,” debuting this week (two episodes at 8 p.m. Oct. 29, Disney Channel; nine episodes stream Oct. 30, Disney ).
What’s most striking about this sequel series is that original series star Selena Gomez not only returns to appear in the show (albeit just in the premiere so far) but she also executive- produces and worked with co-star David Henrie to develop the new show’s concept.
Two decades ago, an adult star would never return to the kids’ show that made her career — but times have changed and stars think more expansively and are more willing to re-embrace a past character without fear that it could impact their present work. (For Gomez, it surely helps that “Only Murders in the Building” is an established, award-winning, ongoing hit for Hulu.)
Writers Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas (“The Naughty Nine,” “R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour”) didn’t work on the original “Wizards” show but have experience with reboots, having revived Disney’s “That’s So Raven” (2003-07) as “Raven’s Home” (2017-23).
“This whole concept started with Selena and David getting together as friends and asking, ‘Where do you think Justin is? Where do you think Alex is? Wouldn’t it be fun to revisit that world?’ ” Thomas said, noting that Gomez and Henrie took the idea to then-Disney Branded Television president Gary Marsh. “Everyone felt the time is right, enough time had passed, the characters are old enough we can find them in a slightly different place in their lives. They can have kids and introduce new actors as new characters.”
The writers sat down with Gomez and Henrie and pitched their ideas for the sequel series, Elinoff said, to be sure “we all saw eye-to-eye thematically what it would be about, what was important to David and Selena, so we knew we were all on the same page.”
In the original “Wizards,” Russo siblings Alex (Gomez), Justin (Henrie) and Max (Jake T. Austin) trained to be wizards. By the series’ end, Alex won the family wizard competition and got awarded full magic powers; Justin retained his magic abilities as headmaster of wizards-in-training boarding school WizTech and Max lost his powers but became manager of the Russo family’s sandwich shop.
In the new series, Justin has lost his job at WizTech under murky circumstances and opts for a routine mortal life with his wife (Mimi Gianopulos) and two sons (Alkaio Thiele and Max Matenko). But Justin’s life gets upended when Alex pops in to introduce Billie (Janice LeAnn Brown), a budding wizard Justin is tasked with training. By the end of the first episode, the new show revisits “a painstaking re-creation,” the writers said, of a lair set from the original series.
Elinoff said that by the midpoint of the season, viewers will learn what happened with Justin at WizTech and the mythology surrounding Billie and why she’s important to the Wizards Cinematic Universe.
“We’re building to a season one finale that a lot of the mythology plays into,” Thomas said, “while leaving it open-ended enough to continue.”
Thomas said the key with a sequel series is to pay respect to the original’s legacy but also “make a show that could stand on its own two feet. It’s really about new characters. Even though we’re bringing old characters back, it’s the new kids that are driving the new series.
“How do we create a show that’s successful for them in addition to paying homage to the old show?” Thomas continued.
So far, that homage does not extend to the Max character who is referenced but not seen in the first episode of “Wizards Beyond Waverly Place.”
“We’ve been taking it one step at a time, letting the creative drive where the series goes,” Thomas said, adding that he and Elinoff had not spoken directly to Max actor Jake T. Austin. “If that means there’s a story that warrants having a familiar face back, absolutely we want to do that. We want to have as many people (as possible) back from the old show. We know fans will love it, that it’s important to see those family relationships and friendships and see they’re alive and well because the show is so much about family.”
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So will any other cast members show up in the 21-episode first season? Will Alex return? Elinoff and Thomas declined to say.