Wait … what was Wizards of Waverly Place almost titled?! The Disney Channel show has so many crazy behind-the-scenes facts, and J-14 compiled a list of all of them! Keep reading for all of the mind-blowing Wizards of Waverly Place set secrets.
Wizards of Waverly Place was and remains one of the best Disney Channel shows on the network, period. The show lasted for four seasons from 2007 to 2011, and starred Selena Gomez as Alex Russo, David Henrie as Justin Russo, Jake T. Austin as Max Russo, Maria Canals-Barrera as Theresa Russo, David DeLuise as Jerry Russo, Jennifer Stone as Harper Finkle and Gregg Sulkin as Mason Greyback.
The show followed the magical Russo family in New York City, who were all competing to become the Family Wizard while also balancing school and the drama that comes with being a teenager.
If you didn’t know, the original idea of the show was pretty different than what it ended up being! For example, the pilot was titled “The Amazing O’Malley’s,” and instead of the Russo family sub sandwich shop, it took place in the O’Malley’s magic store. Oh, and Selena’s character was named Julia, and was a twin to David’s character, instead of his younger sister. Could you imagine?!
It’s also since been revealed that the show, which remains Disney Channel’s longest running series, almost spawned a spinoff! Jennifer revealed that Disney wanted to make a show that focused on Alex and Harper during an episode of her and former Wizards costar David DeLuise’s “Wizards of Waverly Pod” podcast in June 2023.
“I was told that it was pitched to Selena to do a Harper-Alex spinoff and she said no because she had a lot of other things going on,” Jennifer recalled, explaining that she thinks Harper and Alex having their own apartment in season 4 was to help setup the new show.
The Disney alum went on to say that she understood why Selena decided to reject the show at the time.
“I get it. She had a million other things going on and she wanted to move forward,” Jennifer added. “And, honestly, at the time I wanted to move forward too. Looking back, it would have been great. But the thing is, where we both were at that time, we just wanted to explore other things.”
Scroll through our gallery to uncover more of the wildest Wizards of Waverly Place behind-the-scenes facts!
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