Selena Gomez to Guest Star in “Wizards of Waverly Place” Sequel Series

We’re just one month into 2024 but it’s starting to feel like it’s going to be Selena Gomez‘s year. Last week, it was announced that she’ll be starring at Linda Rondstadt in the iconic singer’s upcoming biopic. Now, there’s exciting news for those of us who grew up watching her on our Disney Channel screens as kids or even who watched it as parents. Gomez initially got her acting breakthrough as the star of one of Disney‘s most popular shows Wizards of Waverly Place, which aired from 2007 to 2012 and led to the creation of a hit television movie and 2013 reunion special. Now, Deadline has exclusively confirmed that Disney Branded Television has ordered the pilot for a sequel series, which will see Gomez returning to guest star in her original role as Alex Russo. She will also co-executive produce with her co-star David Henrie, who played her brother Justin in the original show.

“We’re back,” Gomez said in a post on her Instagram story over an old photo of herself and Henrie. The next day, she posted a photo of the pilot script with the caption, “Home again” on her story.

The original Wizards of Waverly Place followed Gomez as Alex Russo, the middle child of a mixed-ethnic Italian and Mexican American family of wizards in New York City. Throughout the show’s four seasons, the story showed her training alongside her brothers Justin and Max (Jake T. Austin) to compete in the family wizard competition, where only one of them would be granted magic powers. Besides showing off her capabilities as a wizard, the show was also about Alex’s struggles with keeping her powers hidden, using them responsibly, and facing everyday adolescent issues like romance and friendship. At the end of the series, Alex wins the competition, Justin keeps his powers to become the headmaster of the magical boarding school WizTech, and Max becomes the manager of the family sandwich shop.

According to Deadline, the sequel series will pick up years later after the competition and center on Justin, who “has left his wizard powers behind, opting for a normal, human life with his wife and two sons.” But when a mysterious incident happens at WizTech, “a powerful young wizard in need of training shows up at his door… and Justin must embrace his past to ensure the future of the Wizard World,” the synopsis reads. Besides Gomez and Henrie, the show will feature new cast members including Janice LeAnn Brown (Just Roll with It) who will play a young wizard named Billie; Alkaio Thiele (Call Me Kat), who will play his oldest son Roman; and Mimi Gianopulos (American Princess), who will play his wife Giada.

No other information about the cast or release date has been announced but we’re excited to see Gomez return to one of her most iconic TV roles.