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The Wizards of Waverly Place pilot was originally "completely different"

7 February 2023, 14:21

Selena Gomez and David Henrie discuss Wizards of Waverly Place reboot

By Sam Prance

The show was called The Amazing O'Malleys and Selena Gomez and David Henrie were twins.

Jennifer Stone and David DeLuise have opened up about the original Wizards of Waverly Place pilot and how different it was.

It's hard to imagine pop culture without Wizards of Waverly Place. As soon as the show debuted on the Disney Channel, fans all around the world became obsessed with the Russo family and their hilarious magical antics. Not only that but it was also the launchpad for Selena Gomez who has since gone on to become one of the biggest stars in the world.

Nevertheless, Wizards of Waverly Place was almost a very different show and now Jennifer Stone, who played Harper, and David DeLuise, who played Jerry, have now let slip all the ways in which the show changed from the first unreleased pilot.

The Wizards of Waverly Place pilot was originally "completely different". Picture: Disney Channel

Speaking about the original pilot on their new Wizards of Waverly Pod rewatch podcast, David explained: "The pilot was a whole different thing. It was The Amazing O'Malleys and it was a magic store not a sub shop. I was not the dad and Jake [T. Austin] wasn't in the show. There were other actors that were in it."

Jennifer then added: "Brandon Mychal Smith (Sonny with a Chance) was David's friend. Selena and David were friends. Huge changes. The show was totally different. The dad in the pilot was so straight-laced versus how you play Jerry."

Sorry, Wizards of Waverly Place was called The Amazing O'Malleys, David wasn't in it and there wasn't a Max?!

Ep 1: “Crazy 10-Minute Sale” | Wizards of Waverly Pod

This isn't the first time that the Wizards of Waverly Place cast have referenced the cancelled pilot. Back in 2014, David Henrie took to Instagram to share a video of the script of the original The Amazing O'Malleys pilot as well as the cast list. David and Selena's characters were originally called Jordan and Julia O'Malley with Maria Canals and Matt McCoy as their parents.

In fact, Jennifer's Harper is the only character whose name remained the same in the switch from The Amazing O'Malleys to The Wizards of Waverly Place. Elsewhere, Demi Lovato's older sister Dallas Lovato was also in the initial pilot as a character named Ruby. As mentioned, there was no Max character. Instead of a third sibling, a grandpa was in the main cast.