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David Henrie and Selena Gomez discuss Jake T. Austin’s absence from Wizards Reboot
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David Henrie and Selena Gomez discuss Jake T. Austin’s absence from Wizards Reboot

Wizards Beyond Waverly Place brought Justin and Alex Russo back after 12 years, but the youngest Russo sibling, Max, appears to be missing.

David Henrie directs the Disney Channel reboot and reprises his role as Justin, who now has a wife and family and has left his life as a family wizard behind. Selena Gomez, meanwhile, guest-starred in the series’ first episode as Justin’s sister Alex, who brought a young magician, Billie (Janice LeeAnn Brown), to her brother’s doorstep in the hopes that he would agree to be her teacher become.

Notably, Max Russo, played by Jake T. Austin, did not appear in the series. However, his character’s fate is alluded to in the premiere episode when it is revealed that he has taken over his father’s business and is running a successful sandwich shop franchise.

When Billie arrives at his doorstep, he asks Justin, “So you’re the guy who owns all the sandwich shops?” Something like the billionaire.”

“Uh, no, that would be Max,” Justin told her. “I’m an assistant principal at a middle school, which some people think is way cooler than being a billionaire.”

“I would never say that,” Alex (Gomez) replied, and Billie echoed the same sentiment, telling Justin, “No one says that.”

Jake T. Austin, Selena Gomez and David Henrie in the series finale of “Wizards of Waverly Place.”

Craig Sjodin/Disney Channel/Getty


When the reboot series was first announced in January, Henrie, 35, eased fans’ worries on Instagram after David DeLuise, who played Russian patriarch Jerry Russo, appeared unaware of the show in an Instagram comment.

However, Henrie was quick to allay those concerns, saying in a comment: “We definitely plan to bring back the original cast for the series order 🙌❤️.”

DeLuise returned to the series as Jerry, but neither Max (Austin) nor the Russian matriarch Theresa (Maria Canals-Barrera) have yet been seen.

David Henrie, Janice LeAnn Brown, Selena Gomez in Wizards Beyond Waverly Place.

Eric McCandless/Disney


After his time up The Wizards of Waverly PlaceAustin, now 29, went on to star The Fosters for two seasons before retiring from the show. He later commented in an interview with Flaunt about falling into the “trap of being in Hollywood,” as he said it was because he was “running with the wrong audience, making some bad decisions and also not taking the work seriously.”

Austin also admitted that after six years, he “started to lose touch in a lot of ways.” wizard and then The Fosters.

“For a while I was really surrounded by the characters I was playing and felt connected to them, but as I grew up in front of the camera and went through puberty and went through my whole life, I kind of lost sight of who I was was as a person.”

Selena Gomez and David Henrie in Wizards Beyond Waverly Place.

Disney


However, he still maintains a friendship with Gomez, as the Rare Beauty mogul joked in a video Vanity Fair last month: “Jake, why don’t you ever respond to my texts?”

“You know, he’s… He’s gotten a little pretty. He had all the girls, I remember that,” she continued of her former co-star, before clarifying, “I compliment you.”

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Wizards Beyond Waverly Place is now streaming on Disney+.

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