Selena Gomez’s “Wizards of Waverly Place” character, Alex Russo, was in and out of relationships throughout the show’s five-year run, but there was a potential connection that was never explored.
During Monday’s episode of “Wizards of Waverly Pod,” a rewatch podcast hosted by former “Wizards of Waverly Place” co-stars Jennifer Stone and David DeLuise, the former showrunner of the series, Peter Murrieta, stopped by and talked about his time reminded. command of the show.
“Wizards of Waverly Place” aired on Disney Channel from 2007 to 2012, and Murrieta served as executive producer and writer for the first three of its four seasons. When he appeared on the podcast, Stone and DeLuise asked Murrieta to reveal a story he wanted to explore but never did.
“Easy,” Murrieta replied quickly. “I wished we could have played more with the connection between Stevie and Alex that was obvious to a lot of us.”
In season three, Alex meets another edgy teenage wizard named Stevie Nichols, played by Hayley Kiyoko. The two bonded immediately with their similar personalities and became close friends. The character of Kiyoko appeared in the comedy series for four episodes before her body was frozen and subsequently disintegrated into several pieces.
Stone, who played Alex’s best friend, Harper, and DeLuise, who played Alex’s father, Jerry, agreed with Murrieta that making Alex and Stewie more than friends would have been an interesting subplot.
“We weren’t able to at the time, but it was very clear to all of us what that relationship was. It would have been fun,” Murieta said.
Stone chimed in and said, “If we were a few years down the line, we probably could have played with him.”
DeLuise asked, “That’s possible nowadays, isn’t it?”
Murrieta replied, “I mean they did it. There have been Disney Channel characters, and they did it. But at the time, it didn’t matter. But, we got as close as we could.”
He laughed and continued, “I mean it was pretty close. It was pretty much right there.
The writer also shared more secrets about his plans for the series finale of “Wizards of Waverly Place.”
He joked that his thoughts could have been on the show but he wouldn’t know, as he never watched the finale episode.
Before the comedy exited at the end of season three, he already knew he wanted the last episode to be a callback to the premise revealed in the premiere, he said. In the pilot episode, viewers learn that Alex and his two brothers, Justin (David Henry) and Max (Jake T. Austin), are part wizards and part humans because their mother, Teresa (Maria Canales Barrera), is not supernatural. They are creatures. Their father trained all three Russo siblings as they eventually had to compete in a family magician’s competition to determine which of them would be able to remain magicians for the rest of their lives.
Murieta said that he predicted that the network would choose Alex as the sole magician due to Gomez becoming a huge star. But, he wanted to add a twist.
She planned for season four to show Alex was more “selfless” and she grew closer to her boyfriend, a werewolf named Mason (Greg Sulkin).
“Then I wanted her to win but give up because she loves a man who is not a wizard like her father.”
He added that the final scene would be a shot of Harper reading a story about the Russo family to a group of children, creating a full-circle moment.
As DeLuise becomes emotional upon hearing of the alternate ending, Murrieta also pitches an idea for a reboot.
“Alex Russo is married to a werewolf and Justin is married to a vampire, and I think they’ll have kids,” she shared. He said that the new generation of Russians will need training and this process will continue.