Selena Gomez’s former Wizards Of Waverly Place co-star Jennifer Stone opened up about some surprising details from the series during her recent Wizards Of Waverly Pod episode.
Stone — who played Harper, the best friend to Gomez’s Alex — said, “Now, I don’t know how true this is, but I was told that it was pitched to Selena to do a Harper-Alex spin-off, and she said no. And because she had a lot of other things going on.”
“It’s almost like you guys had a spin-off on the show when you went to your own apartment,” David DeLuise, who played Jerry Russo (Gomez’s character’s dad) and is a co-host with Stone on the podcast, replied.
Jennifer Stone reveals that she was told Selena Gomez turned down a Harper-Alex spin-off after ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ ended. pic.twitter.com/k4tAaPz956
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) June 19, 2023
“But I think they were setting up for that,” Stone added. “That’s why somebody was like, ‘Oh yeah, they thought about that,’ and approached her before they got into the process of it. I get it, like she had a million other things going on, and she wanted to move forward. And honestly, at the time, I wanted to move forward, too. Looking back, it would have been great.”
Following the reveal, fans on social media had a lot of varied reactions. “It was the right decision,” one person wrote. “The show had run [its] course and the cast were young adults by then ready to venture out on their own. I love Jennifer’s maturity about it.”
“And Selena was totally correct !!! The show was great but it was time to end, and she went ahead to focus on her music and became a pop icon,” another added.
it was the right decision. the show had run it’s course and the cast were young adults by then ready to venture out on their own. i love jennifer’s maturity about it.
— armani (@marnixample) June 19, 2023
Wizards Of Waverly place premiered on Disney Channel in 2007 and wrapped up in 2012, after airing 106 episodes across four seasons.
Check out Stone discussing the original Gomez spin-off plan above.