David Henrie On Potential ‘Wizards’ Movie

Wizards Beyond Waverly Place: The Story So Far

Season 2 left off with the grand reveal that Billie was Alex’s daughter all along, right before Alex jumps into a magical rift to save the whole family from her father-in-law Nicodemus Penwolf (Tobias Jelinek). Billie is left devastated and alone again.

In this final season, Billie decides to track down her mom and dad, and put an end to Nicodemus’ evil. What sent OG fans into a tizzy, however, was the trailer, which showed fan favorite and Alex’s former true love Mason Greyback (Gregg Sulkin) knock at her door, telling her he missed her.

The finale, aired August 4, revealed that Alex finds herself in an alternate dimension where Mason appears at her door, seemingly about to propose — until he reveals that he cannot, because he is dead. The shocking revelation came with no backstory or an explanation of his cause of death, and Mason’s final words to Alex delivered were, “I’ll always love you, Alex Russo, and I’ll always be watching over you.”

Fans had questions. Fans were me.

Why Mason Died On Wizards Beyond Waverly Place

“Billie is obviously not Mason’s daughter, you know? Alex, after Mason passed, fell in love with someone else and they started a family. But there’s always a special place for Mason in Alex’s heart, and so we wanted to reflect the joy of that relationship, but also celebrate this new one, this new family that she’s starting. And this was a very clear way of doing it,” says Henrie of that twist.

When I ask whether other options were considered — any at all that would end with Mason still alive — he confirms they were. “The writers talked about a million different things,” he says. “And this was the cleanest path.”

In another interview with TVLine, he elaborated, “Look, he was an old werewolf, and werewolves pass on. Maybe he didn’t get enough moonlight, I don’t know.” He added that Gregg Sulkin understood the decision and told Henrie, “Yeah, it would be tough if you kept me in the picture. That would have been a tough one for fans to get their mind around.”

As executive producer, he was present alongside Gomez when Sulkin and Jennifer Stone (who returned as the very confident Harper Finkle) were back on set. “It was so fun. It was so special. Greg and I were back at being goofy kids again. He was great and he brought his same charming, loving energy. Yeah, it was crazy.”

OG Cast Members Missing From Wizards Beyond Waverly Place

Not everybody was happy with how the show wrapped things up.

Original series showrunner Todd J. Greenwald, who had named Justin’s character after his middle name, posted on Substack that he would “undo the entire Beyond canon in one simple chapter. By simply ignoring it,” adding that he would explain it away by saying it was all Max’s dream.

Jake T. Austin’s absence as Max Russo seems to be the second most consistent fan complaint after Mason’s death, and Austin and Henrie addressed it with conflicting statements on social media. Both Henrie and showrunner Scott Thomas concurred separately that Austin was asked to return to the show. Thomas also said David Deluise, who reprised his role as Russo family patriarch Jerry for two previous episodes, had been asked to return for the finale, from which he was absent.

Austin, on the other hand, posted to his Instagram story that he had felt “dismissed” by the production for not being invited back for the first season.

The Last Day On The Wizards Beyond Waverly Place Set

At the time we speak, Henrie is more focused on speaking about his young co-stars, the oldest of whom (Janice LeAnn Brown, who plays Billie) is only 15.

“I got to say things to the kids that I would have once wanted said to me when we first wrapped on the original show,” he tells me. “Actors associate performance and value. ‘If people like my performance, I am valuable.’ I was just trying to tell the kids — your value is not based on your output. Your value is based on something entirely different. This is not the end. This is the beginning.”

Henrie has spoken previously about how he wanted the set experience to be different for this show than the ones he grew up on.

“Sets are this wonderfully beautiful, chaotic mix of people. You have, anywhere from 50 to 100 or 150 people on any given day, depending on the episode, all kind of colliding together,” begins Henrie.

It’s a highly capital intensive business with lots of money spent every day, which makes it even more complicated when adults and children collide into that mix, he continues.

Forbes“Would Have Loved To See Max”: Janice LeAnn Brown On That Wizards Beyond Waverly Place FinaleBy Hannah Abraham

“It is a place where if you’re not conscious and you’re not leading correctly, it can be a very negative, very toxic environment. I’ve been on plenty of sets in the past that I would just so dread to go to. A place where you’re treated like tools, where you’re not literally, but you’re beaten down if you don’t achieve your objective. And it very much is fear-based, and I sought to create a place that, especially the kids knew that they were safe and all the adults knew that they’re children, so we shouldn’t treat them like adults.”

“I’ve worked with a lot of directors as a kid myself, very much like treating me like an adult. ‘I expect this, I expect that. What are you doing? You’re failing here.’ And as a little kid, it’s like, three times as intimidating because you’re staring up at this grown giant of a person coming down on you. And it’s like, talk to the kid like a kid. Help them realize what they need.”

He also tells me that parents and crew came up to him on the last day to say it was the best set they had ever worked on, which lead star Brown independently corroborated to me in an earlier interview. For Henrie, this is the note he wanted to end on.

What Comes Next For Wizards Beyond Waverly Place

The finale ends with a shot of all the characters old and new (minus Max Russo, Harper Finkle and Jerry Russo, plus Damien Penwolf) gathered around the Russo family’s sub shop, the original show’s iconic setting.

Henrie is currently working on his production company Novo Inspire Studios, focusing on “underserved audiences” to make “good, wholesome content.” Would he consider going the Big Bang Theory route and pursue another Wizards sequel or spinoff?

“I think the fans are going to have to be the ones to let us know what’s next,” he says pragmatically. “I’d love to do a movie. I’d love to do a spin-off movie. I think that’d be really fun. We haven’t done one yet.”

He continues giving more details, which gives me the distinct impression he’s thought about this a lot. “Remember how we did the movie where we went to Hawaii, in the original show? One of those kinds of movies. It’ll take place sometime after what you’ve seen.”

“And I think we go to Italy though. I think we go to Italy ’cause we’ve gone to Hawaii. I think we go to Italy and explore the magical ruins of Italy.”

He smiles. “I’ve thought of it.”

All episodes of Wizards Beyond Waverly Place are now streaming on Disney Plus.