What the cast of Wizards of Waverly Place is up to now
A Wizards of Waverly Place sequel series has officially hit Disney Channel 17 years after the show first premiered.
Starring some familiar faces – but not all – it's put a spotlight on the hit's original cast.
Read on to see what the cast of Wizards of Waverly Place is up to now.
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Jake T. Austin as Max Russo: Then
The youngest Russo sibling, Jake T. Austin's Max was as mischevious as he was sweet.
In the show's series finale, he's forced to relinquish his magical powers after losing to Alex in the family competition. As a consolation, however, he is given the family's sandwich shop to run.
Max's fate 12 years after the show's end, however, is kind of a mystery, as Austin didn't return for the show...
Jake T. Austin: Now
Austin, pictured here in 2020, largely lives his life out of the spotlight.
After Wizards of Waverly Place, he took a role as Jesus Foster in The Fosters, but left the show in 2015 after two seasons as the main character.
"I just wanted to do roles with more substantive content," he told a fan of his abrupt departure on X (formerly Twitter) at the time.
"I was only asked to return for three episodes [in Season 3] and wasn't going to be able to work on anything else, so I left."
Australian actress Maia Mitchell, who was his co-star, however, seemed to sing a... slightly different tune.
"[Jake] wasn't the right fit. He wasn't interested in doing the show anymore, so he left," she told Young Entertainment.
Rumours of behind-the-scenes bad behaviour, however, followed Austin from his time on The Fosters, with a DUI charge in October 2013 and separate car crash a month later seeing his lawyer negotiate a plea deal with 24 months of probation.
"I kind of lost sight of who I was as a person," he told Flaunt in 2019.
He said his character being recast on The Fosters "was probably the best thing that could have happened to me" as "it prevented me from getting too big for my britches and really prevented my behaviour from getting worse."
Since then, he's kept a low profile, doing voice work mainly.
Max's absence in Wizards Beyond Waverly Place – the new spinoff show – is not explained, though he's alluded to as a "billionaire" sandwich shop franchise owner.
Selena Gomez as Alex Russo: Then
Selena Gomez was already a successful child star, but it was Wizards of Waverly Place that really put her on the map.
Alex Russo was the show's main protagonist, and she ultimately won the family competition to keep her powers at the end of the series in 2012.
Selena Gomez: Now
Gomez is, no contest, the most successful star to come from Wizards of Waverly Place.
While she was on the show, a teenage Gomez made the transition to music, releasing three albums with her group Selena Gomez & The Scene before going solo and releasing three more.
The two-time Grammy nominated artist also continued acting in films, including Spring Breakers (2012), voice acting (notably as Mavis Dracula in the Hotel Transylvania series) and, as fans of Only Murders in the Building know, eventually making her way back to television.
But it's perhaps her makeup brand Rare Beauty that is the mogul's greatest achievement – it's because of her majority stake in it that she's a billionaire.
Gomez – who is now dating Benny Blanco after a tumultuous on-off relationship with Justin Bieber – has also been open about her health issues, including the struggles she's faced due to her lupus diagnosis.
David Henrie as Justin Russo: Then
David Henrie's Justin Russo was the eldest of the sibling trio, and the only reason he got get his powers restored at the end of series – despite losing to Gomez's Alex in the family competition – was because he became a teacher, and he can't teacher future wizards without his magic.
David Henrie: Now
Henrie, who returned to the spinoff series as a main cast member to Gomez's guest star status, married his longtime girlfriend Maria Cahill in 2017.
The couple share three children.
Although Henrie also notably appeared as one of Ted Mosby's children on How I Met Your Mother, it's his role on Wizards of Waverly Place that is his most memorable.
Maria Canals-Barrera as Theresa Russo: Then
Maria Canals-Barrera's Theresa Russo may have been the only one of the family who was mortal, but she didn't need magical powers to keep the rascals in line anyway.
Maria Canals-Barrera: Now
Canals-Barrera, pictured here in September 2024, has continued to act since the show's end, and she's even appearing in the spinoff.
Aside from Camp Rock, she's also starred in The Big Bang Theory, Fuller House, and done voice-over work.
In real life, she shares two children with David Barrera, an actor who is also her husband.
David DeLuise as Jerry Russo: Then
David DeLuise's Jerry Russo was not only a father to Justin, Alex and Max and a husband to Theresa, he was also the children's wizard training instructor.
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