The childhood of Generation Z is marked by a Disney Channel obsessed with making live-action series for kids: shows like The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Lizzie McGuire, or Hannah Montana are just a few examples that, in some way, still resonate in pop culture. In fact, it was in the failed spin-offs of two of these series where Selena Gomez took her first steps in Disney. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves: of all the series from this wave, only two are still alive: That’s So Raven, which had a late sequel with the protagonists being single mothers, and, of course, Wizards of Waverly Place, which is now premiering season 2 of its revival. And it hasn’t been easy to get here.
Magic Potagia
Even before Disney dreamed of streaming services, there was Disney Channel, which in the early 2000s had found the key to conquer the pay television audience: beyond cartoons and catalog movies, they started producing live-action television series aimed at pre-teens (the audience that has always been grossly ignored on television). From there, all sorts of more or less innovative things emerged, and all were successful. Logically, as they came to an end, they tried to create, even if by force, spin-offs. And not all of them turned out well.
This is where the lively Selena Gomez comes in, whom Disney executives fell in love with after an open casting call they held in Texas when she was only 12 years old. They quickly cast her as the lead in the spin-off of Zack and Cody, Arwin! and in the Lizzie McGuire spin-off, Stevie Sanchez. Neither of the two moved forward, so they kept moving her around the pilot circuit. She was already 15 years old when she did something called The Amazing O’Malleys, a series about a group of magicians in which, by that time, no one had much faith.
Peter Murrieta, the producer of the pilot, was convinced that after filming it, he would get paid and it would remain just that, an anecdote: after all, he had never done anything aimed at children and didn’t know how to do it. He would eventually win two Emmys for Wizards of Waverly Place, but at that time he had no idea and wasn’t too eager to learn. In fact, its creator, Todd J. Greenwald, who had just come from working on Hannah Montana, didn’t have to think much about it, and simply accepted the proposal made by the network: a series about a family of wizards. Harry Potter was a huge success, there was nothing to think about.
It wasn’t a passionate project for anyone, but this pilot, which took place in a magical store with just two brothers (and was never aired), was such a success among executives that they announced it as if it were the big event of the year. In fact, Gómez even appeared on Hannah Montana promoting Wizards of Waverly Place, a move full of risk but that worked. So well, in fact, that its final episode, aired in January 2012, was the most-watched in Disney Channel history. Not bad at all.
In total, there were four seasons, one movie, and a special, The Return of the Wizards: Alex vs Alex, featuring a double Selena Gomez. For a decade, nothing was known until last year when Wizards of Waverly Place returned. But of course, in that time, many things have changed. For example, Gomez is now the star of another successful series, Only Murders in the Building, and she even appeared in an Oscar-nominated film (the controversial Emilia Pérez), so, obviously, she couldn’t star in it. She appears in two episodes (the first and the last) of the season. That’s quite enough, because, honestly, she doesn’t need it. But of course, let’s see who can resist a good spell.
