Fans can expect more than one Russo family reunion on the Wizards of Waverly Place revival.
David Henrie’s Justin Russo runs into a familiar face while trying to find his mentee Billie (Janice LeAnn Brown) in Us Weekly’s exclusive Wizards Beyond Waverly Place clip. “Justin!” David DeLuise’s family patriarch, Jerry Russo, says as he joyfully embraces his son for a hug.
“What are you doing here?” Justin asks his dad, who has taken up a job in the Wizard World helping wizards find spells they are looking for. “Well, your mother [Maria Canals-Barrera] took up tennis. And apparently, I’m not very good at it. And now, I’m here at the spellp-line,” Jerry quips.
A surprised Justin asks why his dad kept his new gig a secret from him, and Jerry explains that the two “stopped talking about wizard stuff” after Justin ended his role as headmaster of the school WizTech.
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“I know. I just was done with it, until a couple of weeks ago when …” Justin begins before Jerry adds, “You got Alex’ed.” In the revival show, Selena Gomez’s Alex Russo recruits Justin to help Billie master her wizard skills.
Jerry — who acted as Justin and his siblings Alex and Max’s (Jake T. Austin) wizarding teacher in the original series — is glad to see his eldest return to his role as a teacher. However, taking Billie under his wing hasn’t been smooth sailing for Justin.
“Did a girl come in about this tall, cool clothes, sarcastic but in a frustratingly likable sort of way?” he asks Jerry, who confirms a young girl asked him for a “completion spell to fill out a bunch of forms an evil troll gave her.”
“That was Billie trying to get out of doing her homework,” Justin states. In true dad fashion, Jerry pokes fun at his son by joking, “Well, if that was Billie, that makes you the evil troll.”
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Justin concludes the clip by pointing out that Jerry was tricked by Billie as well. “She’s good,” Jerry quips.
Henrie, 35, and DeLuise, 52, starred together on all four seasons of Wizards of Waverly Place, which ran on Disney Channel from 2007 to 2012. DeLuise is one of two original stars confirmed to appear in the revival, which follows the lives of Justin and his family as Billie gives their lives a magical touch.
Henrie called reuniting with his TV dad “a joy” in an exclusive interview with Us. “We hope to have everyone back throughout the lifetime of the show, and if it’s up to me, as often as possible ’cause they’re just such a wonderful addition,” the actor shared in June.
He also teased his onscreen reunion with Gomez, who will reprise her role as Alex for the show’s pilot episode. “We have a couple scenes that I think will choke up the original fans of the original show, and they’re really touching, and they went really well,” the actor gushed. “So, I’m excited for you to see it.”
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Earlier this month, Henrie exclusively told Us that he hopes Wizards Beyond Waverly Place feels like “a big warm hug” for fans of the original. “Over the years, Selena and I encountered so many fans all over the world and their parents, by the way, who said that our show meant so much to them,” he shared. “It was there for them when they needed it. It was there for them in a dark place in their life, in some cases, and really gave them a much-needed dose of humor and heart. So, it really did make a difference in a lot of people’s lives all over the world.”
Wizards Beyond Waverly Place premieres on Disney Channel Tuesday, October 29, and the next day on Disney+.
