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 one 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 series' former showrunner, Peter Murrieta, stopped by and reminisced about his time at the helm of the show.
"Wizards of Waverly Place" aired on the 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 storyline he wanted to explore but never did.
“Easy,” Murrieta swiftly replied. “I wished we could have played more with what was quite obvious to a lot of us was the relationship between Stevie and Alex.”
In season three, Alex met another edgy teenage wizard named Stevie Nichols, played by Hayley Kiyoko. The two instantly bonded over their similar personalities and became close friends. Kiyoko’s character appeared on the comedy series for four episodes before her body was frozen and later shattered into multiple pieces.
Stone, who played Alex’s best friend, Harper, and DeLuise, who played Alex’s dad, Jerry, agreed with Murrieta that making Alex and Stevie more than friends would have been an interesting subplot.
“We weren’t able to in that time, but it was pretty clear to all of us what that relationship was. That would have been fun,” Murrieta said.
Stone chimed in and added, “If we were just a few years down the line, we maybe could have played with that.”
DeLuise asked, “Nowadays that could happen, right?”
Murrieta responded, “I mean they did it. Disney Channel has had characters, and they did it. But at that time, it wasn’t a thing. 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 ideas could have been on the show but he would not know, because he has never watched the finale episode.
Before exiting the comedy at the end of season three, he already knew that he wanted the last episode to be a callback to the premise explained in the premiere, he said. In the pilot episode, viewers learn that Alex and her two brothers, Justin (David Henrie) and Max (Jake T. Austin), are part wizards and part human, because their mom, Teresa (Maria Canals Barrera), is not a supernatural being. Their dad trained all three Russo siblings because eventually they had to compete in a family wizard competition to determine which one of them would be able to remain a wizard for life.
Murrieta said he predicted the network would choose Alex to be the sole wizard due to Gomez becoming a huge star. But, he wanted to add a twist.
He planned for season four to show Alex become more “selfless,” and she grew closer to her boyfriend, a werewolf named Mason (Gregg Sulkin).
“Then I wanted her to win but give it up, because she’s in love with a person who’s not a wizard, just like her dad.”
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 became emotional hearing about the alternate ending, Murrieta also pitched an idea for a reboot.
“Alex Russo is married to a werewolf and Justin is married to a vampire, and I would imagine they have children,” he shared. He said the new generation of Russos would need training and the cycle would continue.